HC asks Railways to quote rule for not submitting report

Ahmedabad, Aug 7 (UNI) The Gujarat High Court admonished the Railway Ministry, asking it to explain under which rule it had not submitted the U C Banerjee report, about the fire in a train in Godhra, in the court today, despite its July 31 order, and adjourned the hearing till September 6.

However, the counsel of Railway Ministry was unable to quote the rule under which it had not submitted the report. While officials of Railways reportedly had brought the report to the court, they did not submit the report as the Union Government wanted to place the report in Parliament and the Ministry wanted some more time.

The Railway Ministry's counsel said the Banerjee Committee was set up by the Union Government to probe the cause of fire in the S-6 coach in which 57 people were killed.

Expressing its anguish over the delay in submitting the report in the High Court, the court adjourned the hearing till September 6.

The division bench of Chief Justice Y R Meena and Justice Akil Kureshi repeatedly asked the Railway Ministry's counsel that under which clause of the term and reference of the Commission, the report had to be tabled in Parliament.

UNI