Liberhan Commission submits report to Prime Minister after 17 years

The Liberhan Commission probing the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, has submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.

Justice(rtd) M S Liberhan, head of the panel, submitted the bulky report to the Prime Minister in the presence of Home Minister P Chidambaran this morning.

The Commission set up by the then prime minister P V Narsimha Rao on December 16, 1992 was to submit its report by March 16, 1993, but went on to get as many as 48 extensions.

The term of the last extension given in March this year expired today. The one-member probe panel had become one of the longest and costliest commissions in the country with nearly eight crore being spent on it during the past 17 years.

The Commission probing the circumstances of the demolition of the Babri Mosque, had high-profile witnesses like the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, senior BJP leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vinay Katiyar and Bharatiya Jan Shakti president Uma Bharti and former Prime Ministers P V Narsimha Rao and V P Singh, appear before it.

The bureaucrats responsible for the security of the 16th century mosque had also to appear to explain their conduct at the time of demolition.

The panel had completed hearing the last witness in 2005 and during the past four years, it compiled the report, submitted to the Prime Minister today.