Nanavati panel gets one more extension

The term of the Commission,which was formed in March 2002,was to expire on December 31. The Commission has been granted the extension of six months to complete its report. The Commission has already given its first report pertaining to the incident of burning the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express in which 59 Kar Sevaks were charred to death. The Commission had termed the incident a pre-planned conspiracy involving “some individuals”.

In its first report,the Commission said that “there is absolutely no evidence to show that either the Chief Minister and/or any other Minister(s) in his Council of Ministers or police officers had played any role in the Godhra incident…” It also gave a clean chit to the state government on what followed.

While submitting its first report in September last year,the Commission had said that it would submit the second part of the report by December 31. However,following a proposal from the Commission demanding extension to complete its second part report,the state granted it another extension a couple of days back. Talking to The Indian Express,Law Secretary M H Shah said,“The Commission had asked for extension to complete the report and it has been accordingly granted by the state government for six months.”

Time Line

March 6,2002 – One-man commission headed by Justice (retired) K G Shah was appointed to probe into the Godhra train burning incident and the subsequent riots in the state

May 21,2002 – Following opposition by certain groups,the Commission was made two-member commission and Justice (retired) G T Nanavati was appointed its chairman

June 2004 – Terms of Reference of the Commission were amended and the Commission was enabled to probe into the role of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers and bureaucrats in connection with the Godhra train burning incident and the subsequent communal riots in Gujarat

March 2008 – Justice (retired) K G Shah died

April 2008 – Justice (retired) Akshay Mehta appointed as member of the Commission

September 2008 – The Commission submitted its first report pertaining to the train burning incident dated February 27,2002. The Commission called the incident a pre-planned conspiracy and not an accident and gave clean chit to Narendra Modi and the state government

December 2009 – The state government granted another extension to the Commission for six months,till

June 30,2010. The term was ending on December 31,2009.