Parliament adjourned over Pathak report leak

New Delhi, Aug 4: Leaking of the Justice Pathak Committee report on the oil-for-food scam to the media rocked both Houses of Parliament today with the Opposition stalling the proceedings accusing the government of engineering the leak in ''contempt of Parliament''.

Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha witnessed uproarious scenes as soon as they assembled this morning with the Opposition asking the government how the report was leaked to the media while it was being submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day and Lok Sabha till 1500 hrs after Opposition members shouted slogans against the government for being behind the leak of the report that has given a clean chit to the ruling Congress party while indicting former external affairs minister Natwar Singh and his son Jagat Singh.

''It is intriguing that the report was submitted to the Prime Minister and leaked to the press at the same time. It is contempt of Parliament,'' said Mr L K Advani, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee condemned the leak and said the report should have been placed in Parliament before it was published in the media. Mr Chatterjee asked the government to explain how the report was leaked to the media.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi categorically denied that the report was leaked by the government and said it would look into the episode.

The Opposition also received ready support from UPA allies including the Left, RJD and SP in the Lower House whose leaders flayed the disclosure of the Justice R S Pathak Committee report.

The probe panel investigated the role of the Congress, Mr Natwar Singh and his son, his friend Andaleeb Sehgal and Mr Singh's relative Aditya Khanna, as well as Reliance into Volcker expose whether they benefitted monetarily from the oil-for-food scam.

The Volcker report had rocked Parliament last year leading to resignation of Mr Singh as External Affairs Minister.

The Pathak Committee reportedly did not find any evidence to establish that Mr Singh and his son received money though the money trail that led to Sehgal and Khanna. It, however, indicted Mr Singh and his son for misusing their positions.

The Opposition also demanded an inquiry into how the report was leaked to the media while Parliament was in session and asked the government to place the report along with the Action Taken Report in the current session. In the Lok Sabha, irate Opposition members trooped into the well of the House as soon as the session began this morning. Mr Advani was the first to raise the issue and received immediate support from all the party leaders barring the Congress.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition demanded suspension of Question Hour to discuss the issue. As soon as the House assembled for the day, senior BJP Member and former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha demanded that the issue should be taken up for discussion.

Mr Singh was present in the House when the issue was raised.

The uproar over the issue created by both the Treasury and Opposition benches forced Chairman Bharon Singh Shekhawat to adjourn the House till 1200 hrs.

The Upper House was adjourned for the day within minutes of reassembling after the first adjournment.

Mr Advani said the government should explain how the report was leaked before tabling it in Parliament. He was joined by Mr Prabhunath Singh (JD-U), Mr Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI), Mr Roopchand Pal (CPI-M), Mr Devendra Prasad Yadav (RJD), Mr Yarren Naidu (TDP) and Mr Brij Kishore Tripathi(BJD), who said the leak smacked a ''calculated move on the part of interested parties''.

The Speaker, however, did not allow any discussion on the content of the report published in the media and asserted that ''the media report cannot be discussed and taken note of in the House as per the established Parliamentary norms''.

UNI