Decision not to summon Modi ‘not final’: Nanavati panel

GANDHINAGAR - The Nanavati-Mehta commission probing the 2002 communal riots Thursday informed the Gujarat High Court that its decision not to summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others was “not final”.

A division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay and Justice Akil Kureshi took the letter of the commission’s secretary, addressed to the government pleader, on record.

“The details of the steps taken by the commission and are likely to be taken are mentioned in the letter. It is stated in the letter that the commission’s order dated Sep 18, 2009 is not final,” the chief justice said.

The court ordered the letter be kept in a sealed cover in a file that would remain in the chief justice’s office. The next hearing is to be held June 17.

In the previous hearing March 22, the court had asked the commission to inform it by April 1 whether its decision not to summon Modi and others was tentative or final. The court query came on a plea by Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), which is representing the 2002 riot victims before the commission.

The JSM had sought the court’s intervention for directions to the probe panel to summon the chief minister and other ministers to depose before it, after the commission rejected JSM’s plea to call Modi and the others.