NEW DELHI, Feb 21 : With elections looming, the Centre on Friday made a fresh pitch for tabling in Parliament the findings of the Justice Banerjee Commission report which ruled out any conspiracy in the fire in Sabarmati Express at Godhra in 2002, which resulted in the killing of 58 kar sevaks and the subsequent widespread anti-Muslim violence.

The finding of the Justice Banerjee Commission, which was appointed by the railway minister Lalu Prasad even when the Nanavati Commission was probing the killing of kar sevaks, undercuts BJP’s claim that the fire was the result of a premeditated attack by fundamentalists belonging to the minoroty community.

The findings have not been tabled in Parliament because of the order of the Gujarat High Court, passed in response to a Gujarat government plea, forbidding its disclosure.

The fresh effort to get the findings released comes just after a court dropped the POTA charges against the Godhra fire accused.

Unsuccessful in its attempt to table the report during the last monsoon session, additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam took a fresh shot by requesting Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam for permission to place the Justice Banerjee report in Parliament.

The Bench, however, told the ASG that as the matter was pending before the HC, the Centre would do well to pursue it there. Not to be outdone, the ASG further convinced the Bench about the urgency of the matter — though he did not mention the impending general elections — and got an order from the SCrequesting the high court to decide the Centre’s plea expeditiously, preferably within six weeks.

This means, the HC decision would be expected by the middle of April, which would suit the gameplan of the ruling coalition to score brownie points over the opposition NDA.

More so, since the apex court had backfooted the UPA constituents in September last year when it had refused to restrain the Gujarat government from going public with the Justice Nanavati Commission report, which had not only given a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government in the riots but had also taken a view opposite to that of Justice Banerjee on the Godhra train burning case.

While Justice Banerjee had disbelieved any pre-planning to throw inflammable material into the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station, Justice Nanavati had unearthed a clear conspiracy to torch the train by the accused, most of whom were from the Muslim community.

The Modi government had on March 6, 2002, set up an inquiry commission under retired Supreme Court judge, Justice G T Nanavati, to go into the riots. After Lalu Prasad became the railway minister in the UPA government, a Railway Committee headed by another retired SC judge, Justice U C Banerjee, was set up to identify the cause of the fire in the train and to suggest measures for the prevention of such incidents in future.

Two months after Justice Banerjee submitted the interim report on January 17, 2005, a petition was filed by a person claiming to be a passenger on Sabarmati Express on the date of incident, requesting the Gujarat HC to quash the setting up of Banerjee Committee. The HC had stayed implementation of the interim report.

On March 3, 2006, the Justice Banerjee Committee submitted its final report but the HC stayed the implementation of this report as well and restrained the Centre from making it public, thus preventing it from placing it before Parliament.