UPA government stand unreasonable: Nanawati panel

Ahmedabad, Mar 29 (UNI) The Nanavati-Shah Commission today termed as ''unreasonable'', the stand of the Congress-led UPA Government on the subission of a letter written by former president K R Narayanan to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on deployment of the Army in Gujarat during the communal riots of post-Godhra carnage of February 27, 2002.

The two-member panel comprising of retired Justices G T Nanavati as its chairman and K G Shah (member) in its order said ; ''We see no justifiable reason for non-production of those letters or their relevant portions as Union Government has failed to point out how production there of would adversely affect the security of the State or public interest or smooth administrative functioning of the Government. The Union Government should have produced the same for persual by the Commission for deciding genuineness of its claim.'' ''We do not agree with the reason given by the UPA government regarding the submission of the former President's letter and we, therefore, have to draw our own inferences as the refusal (by the government) was unreasonable,'' Justice Nanavati said.

The panel further said : ''Taking note of this unreasonable stand and reluctance of the Union Government, we had made it clear during the hearing of this application and we do so by this order that it will now be open to the Commission to draw its own inference with respect to those letters. We do not think it fit to give any direction to the Union Government in this behalf as that is not likely to serve any useful purpose and would result in delay only.'' Mr Narayanan had written a letter to the then Prime Minister Vajpayee regarding troop deployment during the Gujarat riots.

In its reply to the Commission, the UPA government had stated that if made public, the President's letter would affect the internal security of the country.

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