SC extends stay on HC order on Pradhan report

The Supreme Court on Friday extended its stay on the Bombay High Court order directing the Maharashtra government to place before it the report of a committee which had probed the government's response to terror attacks in Mumbai in November last year.

The Supreme Court on Friday extended its stay on the Bombay High Court order directing the Maharashtra government to place before it the report of a committee which had probed the government's response to terror attacks in Mumbai in November last year.

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The apex court, which had earlier disapproved of the directions of the High Court, remained unmoved by the plea of those who wanted the Pradhan Committee report to be made public as it has already been published in a magazine.

When the matter came for hearing, advocate Lalit Bhasin, appearing for Society of Indian Law Firm (SOILF), said the stay on making the report public has no meaning when the entire report has been published in a magazine.

"The entire report has been published in a magazine and there is nothing confidential in the report," he told a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.

He said the report has been kept secret by Maharashtra government because of coming assembly polls.

However, his submission was opposed by senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Maharashtra government, who said if the report has been published in the magazine, the curiosity of those concerned for making it public would be satisfied.