28 Nov 2002
IS GOVT WINDING UP TEHELKA
INQUIRY?
From Jal Khambata
NEW DELHI: The
Vajpayee Governments appears all set to wind up the Tehelka Inquiry
Commission instead of looking for another judge in place of Justice
Venkataswami as services of all 12 employees of the Commission have
been terminated.
In a circular issued by the Department of
Personnel, it has been pointed out that in view of Justice
Venkataswami's resignation 12 employees with the Inquiry Commission
either on deputation or on ad hoc basis "stand terminated from
their present services.''
On record, the Government is,
however, stressing that it wants the Commission to complete its work
and that it is looking for another retired or sitting judge to head
the Commission.
However, Chief Justice of India Pattanaik is
reported to have already conveyed that he would not recommend the
name of any judge for the purpose in view of the political
controversy raked up over his predecessor Justice S P Bharucha
recommending Venkataswami's name for heading a tax authority.
The
Government's difficulty in picking up some retired judge for the
Inquiry Commission would only attract the charge that it had
deliberately chosen one who can deliver a favourable judgment.
Those
who were closely following the proceedings of the Commission,
however, point out that the new judge would not have much work with
regard to the political personalities since Justice Venkataswami has
already concluded and left behind his findings. All that his
successor will have to do is to complete the second part of inquiry
related to 14 defence deals, the real ones for procurement of defence
items and not the fictitious deals made by the tehelka.com portal to
implicate political personalities.
The Opposition also does
not want the Inquiry Commission to proceed further as it kept
pressing for the matter to be probed by a Joint Parliamentary
Committee. The Government is, however, not ready for any JPC as it
may be used by the opposition parties for witch-hunting.
Asked
why the Government is hesitant to have a JPC when it had itself
volunteered with another JPC to probe the second stock exchange scam,
sources in the Government said the Tehelka inquiry is different as it
involves inquiry into a number of defence purchases which cannot be
allowed to be made public as it would compromise the national
security.
The premature winding-up of the Inquiry Commission
would, however, be a setback for Dr K K Paul, a senior IPS officer,
who was selected by Justice Venkataswami only recently to be the
security advisor to the Inquiry Commission to help out in the inquiry
into the defence deals. Dr Paul was picked up for the job in view of
his background as having held a senior position in the Intelligence
Bureau and had been also heading the intelligence setup of the
capital.
Even while continuing as the Special Police
Commissioner of Delhi, Dr Paul had started attending the Commission's
meetings to assist Justice Venkataswami. His colleagues say all his
work in the Commission has gone down the drain as he may not be there
even if the Government finds a judge to continue the Inquiry
Commission since it would be up to the latter to pick up the advisor.
END