Pathak Comm report not leaked from the govt's side

New Delhi, Aug 4: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today denied that anybody in the government had leaked the Justice Pathak Committee report probing the involvement of Indians, including former External Affairs minister K Natwar Singh in the 'Oil-for-Food' scam in Iraq.

''The only copy or copies of the Justice Pathak committee probing the oil-for-food scam were submitted to the Prime Minister yesterday... even I have not got a copy until now,'' he told mediapersons in the Parliament premises.

''Nobody in the government leaked it,'' Mr Chidambaram asserted.

In response to a question about his statement on TV that he had got a copy, the Minister said his remarks were taken out of context.

Asked whether he should have got the report first, as the Finance Ministry is the nodal agency, Mr Chidambaram said the question should be posed to Justice Pathak.

The leak of the report on the oil-for-food scam to the media rocked both Houses of Parliament earlier 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 the 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 report.

UNI

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