Volcker Report: Judicial powers to Pathak for probe

The Union Cabinet approved the terms of reference of the Justice R S Pathak Inquiry Authority late Thursday night to probe into the controversial Volcker report, which named former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh among the 'non-contractual' recipients of the UN Oil-For-Food programme in Iraq.

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Finance Minister P Chidambaram told newspersons after the meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, that the authority which will be notified in the official Gazette on Friday will have all powers under Section 11 read with other sections of the Commissions of Inquiry Act sought by Justice Pathak.

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He, therefore, said that the work of the Authority would be a judicial proceeding in every respect with power to summon among other powers.

The authority, which would be a judicial inquiry, would be required to submit its report as required under Section 3(4) of the Act to Parliament within a fixed time frame.

Justice Pathak, whose appointment had been decided by a Cabinet meet held earlier on Thursday, was consulted on the statutory powers he wanted, the minister added.

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The terms of reference, which were part of the Resolution, would also be notified on Friday.

He said, in reply to a question, that the title Inquiry Authority as against Commission had been used since that was the expression used in Section 11 of the Act.

Asked when the probe would begin, Chidambaram said the probe had already begun since the prime minister had appointed Virendra Dayal, former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, as the one-man fact-finding mission to probe the "unverified" references to Indian entities and individuals in the Volcker Committee report.

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Justice Pathak is a former Chief Justice of India and a former judge of the International Court of Justice, The Hague.

The authority will complete its findings and submit its report within a period of six months unless extended by the government, he added.

Natwar Singh, who was stripped of the external affairs portfolio on the Volcker issue and was made a minister without portfolio on November seven, attended the cabinet meeting on Thursday morning but "excused himself" when the agenda item relating to the probe was taken up.