Govt to probe leakage of report: Dasmunshi

New Delhi, Aug 4: The Government will deal very firmly with the leakage of the Pathak Committee report on the Volcker allegations and have it investigated by an agency, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said today.

''The leakage issue will be dealt with very firmly by the Government.... we will let you know very soon the manner and time frame of the probe to be conducted by a investigating agency,'' he said, adressing a joint press conference of the UPA constituents in the Parliament House premises.

The investigation will be confined to the leakage only, he added.

The Minister also announced that the govenment will come out with its Action Taken Report on the Pathak Committee report ''at the earliest.... faster than the earlier ATRs placed in Parliament.'' However he refused the specify the exact time frame.

Recalling that during the NDA regime, the operative part of the report of the Kargil Review Committee, headed by Mr K Subhramanyam was leaked out, ''even before it saw the light of day,'' but the Congress then did not express any concern over the issue. ''We will not go in that manner,'' he noted.

''We do feel that such a leakage is not a good thing.... not at all good. No less than the Speaker himself had resented it,'' he said.

Mr Dasmunsi commended the Pathak Committee for doing its job ''objectively and accomplishing it within a short period.'' Reacting sharply to Opposition Leader L K Advani's charge that the Government managed to have the Congress exonerated and Mr Natwar Singh made a scapegoat in the Pathak Committee report, Mr Dasmunsi retorted that Mr Advani himself is a ''master manipulator.'' Replying to a question, he said if the BJP thought that by creating a hue and cry on Pathak Committee report, they can get a divert attention from the Kandhar hijack and ''mole'' issues, ''they were in a fool's paradise.''

UNI