Orissa HC judge to inquire missing Commission report-Naveen

Bhubaneswar, Nov 23 (UNI) Taking serious exception to the report of the commission probing the 1993 Nagarjun Vesh stampede in Sri Jagannath Temple, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today ordered a probe by another Commission.

Making a suo motto statement in the state assembly, Mr Patnaik said the disappearance of the commission report has been ''agitating'' the minds of the members in the Orissa Assembly as well as many people of the state.

He said since the incident was related to the Jagannath temple, the loss of the report submitted by the one man commission has a special significance.

The Chief Minister said the one man commission headed by sitting High Court judge Justice P K Mohanty to probe into the November four last stampede inside the Jagannath temple, would also now inquire into the disappearance of the commission report on the Nagarjun vesh stampede inside the temple in 1993.

Mr Patnaik said it has been decided by the government to request the High Court to include the question of the loss of the Commission report on Nagarjun vesh stampede within the terms of reference of the Justice P K Mohanty Commission.

Mr Justice J M Mohapatra had probed into the Nagarjun vesh stampede on November 26, 2003 inside the Jagannath temple in which six devotees were killed and several injured.

Though the Commission submitted its report to the government in 1995, the report could not be traced either in the Law department or in the Home department.

The issue rocked the ongoing state assembly with members cutting across party lines, expressing serious concern over the disappearance of the Commission report.

Sharing the concern of the members, Speaker Maheswar Mohanty had directed the Law Minister to inform the house on the fate of the report within a week. The Law Minister, however, pleaded his helplessness stating that the report was missing.

While the Opposition blamed the ruling BJD-BJP government for the missing report the treasury bench members held Leader of Opposition J B Pattnaik responsible for the incident stating that he had received the report from the Commisison as Chief Minister J B Pattnaik had also admitted in the house that the Commission had submitted the report to him in 1995 and he had forwarded it to the law department but Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik claimed that the report was not sent to the Law department from the then Chief Minister's office.

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