PM must apologise for Pathak report leak: NDA

New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI) The National Democratic Alliance today decided to move a privilege motion against the government for the leak of the Pathak Inquiry Authority report and demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's apology for it.

The decision to move the privilege motion was taken at an NDA meeting, chaired by former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and attended by leaders of all the coalition constituents.

The draft copy of the several sets of notices given to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, which was made available to the media, said, ''The Lok Sabha is in session. Under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the Government was duty-bound to place the report on the table of the House before disclosing it to the media...The leakage of the report is a gross breach of the privilege of this House by the Prime Minister, who received the only copy of the report from Justice Pathak.'' Later, talking to newspersons, BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the NDA would not allow any business in the House until the Prime Minister tendered an apology for the leak of the report which was submitted by Justice Pathak to him on August 3.

As soon as the report was submitted to the PM, almost every channel came out with the main findings of the report and all newspapers carried the report's findings in their editions next day, the meeting noted.

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