The editorial said almost everything that needed to be said about the Liberhan Commission and its delayed report. The way our bureaucratic and legal systems function, their members lose touch with the world and with time. Things move on and the world changes around them; therefore what they deliver at the end of their long toil is a dose of frustration to the prosecutor and the defendant. Our means of constituting and persisting with commissions of inquiry must change.

— Sadashiv S. Apte

Pune

• Even though it has taken the Liberhan Commission 17 years in delivering its report to the prime minister, the fact is that the report is now in. Therefore, the onus is now on the government to act, not least so given the time and resources spent on the commission. There’s been a lot of speculation and misinformation regarding the report and it will undoubtedly open a can of worms. Yet, it’s a can that must be opened. The Liberhan report shouldn’t be treated like previous inquiry reports.

— Asjadullah Qasmi

Mumbai

How they ail

• This refers to B.N. Srikrishna’s ‘Errors of commission”. Srikrishna has analysed well what ails commissions of inquiry. Such commissions are usually announced on the spur of the moment to tide over an impending political crisis and cool tempers. Resources of such commissions are neglected and the minister concerned soon leaves it all to the bureaucracy. Having had occasion to work with two commissions, one statutory — the Finance Commission — I must say only a dynamic secretary could ensure such a body adhering to a given time-frame.

... contd.