NEW DELHI: Directing the Union Government to submit a copy of the R.S. Pathak Inquiry Authority report dealing with the oil-for-food scam with it, the Delhi High Court on Friday refused to restrain it from making it public.

Andaleeb Sehgal, whom the report has reportedly indicted as one of the beneficiaries of the scam, had sought a restraint on the Centre from making the report public on the ground that it would, if released, damage his reputation.

Mr. Sehgal sought the relief when his earlier petition filed in June this year seeking a direction to the Authority to allow his lawyer to represent him in the proceedings was taken up for hearing. Dismissing his plea, a three-judge Bench comprising Justices T. S. Thakur, Vikramjit Sen and S.L. Bhayana, said the petitioner had not been able to make out a case for the relief sought.

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The Bench allowed submissions by Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam that the inquiry conducted by the Authority was not directed against any individual but to ascertain the veracity of the United Nations-appointed Volcker Committee Report on the oil-for-food scam.

Mr. Subramaniam said the report submitted to the Centre would be processed and placed on the table of Parliament in the larger public interest.

However, the Bench directed the Government to submit a copy of the report to the court in a sealed cover on or before September 1.

The Bench also issued a notice to the Authority seeking its reply to the earlier petition by September 1.

It also said that the petitioner (Mr. Sehgal) was free to challenge the report in a court.

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