Justice Virendra Dixit Commission submits report to Khanduri

Dehra Dun, Aug 18 (UNI) The Justice Virendra Dixit Commission, tasked with selecting a permanent capital for Uttarakhand, has submitted its final report after eight years.

Justice Dixit, who headed the one-man commission to select a capital for Uttarakhand, presented his report to the Chief Minister Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri yesterday.

The one-man commission had been constituted in January 2001 by the then ruling BJP government to select a permanent capital for the state but was dissolved after one and a half months.

It was reconstituted in 2002.

Though the commission's tenure was three months, it had been extended 11 times.

On July 1, Justice Dixit had intimated the High Court that he would submit his report to the state government by July 31. The commitment was made in an affidavit submitted by him in absentia to a two-judge bench of the Uttarakhand High Court comprising Chief Justice V K Gupta and Justice JCS Rawat. The chariman had contended that the compilation of the report had been delayed owing to the non-availability of the required staff of a steno and a peon and the two-judge bench directed the state government to provide him with the required help.

The findings of the report had not been announced yet and sources said the delay could be prolonged in view of the forthcoming panchayat elections.

Indications were rife that the report could recommend Gairsen, Dehra Dun or Ramnagar as the new capital of the hill state.

Both the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress remained tight-lipped on the findings of the report. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) has been demanding that Gairsen be made the permanent state capital. In October 2004, its activists while demanding establishment of the permanent capital at Gairsen, gatecrashed into the Capital Identification Commission office in Raj Bhavan annexe here and asked Justice Dixit to move out of the building and put a lock on the main door.

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