Out of commission

As if 17 years and 48 extensions were not enough,we had to wait nearly six months more. The Liberhan Commission,one of Indias longest-running inquiry commissions,submitted its report to the government on June 30,2009. For the next five-odd months,there was official silence as the government refused to table the report before Parliament. Meanwhile rumours grew,uncertainty spread. Did it need to take this long to table the Liberhan report in Parliament?

The simple answer is no. The ostensible reason for the six-month window the government has after commissions submit their reports is to gain elbow room to prepare action taken reports. But is such secrecy really essential? In any case,when was the last time the government actually took strong action on the basis of a commissions recommendation? To give the most recent examples,what action has been taken against those indicted by the Nanavati Commission Report on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984? The fate of the Srikrishna Commissions findings on the 1992-3 Mumbai riots is as tragic and revealing. First of course,there were attempts to terminate the inquiry altogether. But even after it was re-instituted and delivered a scathing report,most of those the judge indicted roam scot-free. The secrecy that surrounds commissions of inquiry has no clear rationale. It merely fuels the worry that these commissions are established to deflect an angry popular mood and to stave off inconvenient questions.

The long years of the Liberhan Commissions investigations,and the delay in tabling it before Parliament,only added to the mystery. Meanwhile,all kinds of rumours gained currency,defeating the very point of the exercise to establish truth for the greater public good. Justice Liberhans conclusions now seem almost anti-climactic,as they compete with the parallel narratives the delay has spawned. As the blame game over the events of December 6,1992,recommences,the findings are drowned in a cacophony of conspiracy theories. If any cautionary tale emerges from this chaos,it is this: inquiry reports,once submitted,must be promptly tabled in Parliament.