Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said on Thursday that the government has filed an appeal against the Gujarat High Court order directing it not to give publicity and act upon the report of the U C Banerjee Committee, which examined the Godhra train tragedy.

An appeal has been filed in the Gujarat High Court against the order, he said in a statement in the Rajya Sabha.

On March 7, the High Court had directed the government not to give any publicity or to further act upon the report till the final hearing began from April 3, Lalu said. He added that the High Court had turned down the request of the government for laying the report on the table of the House.

The High Court, on a special civil application filed by Nilkanth Tulsidas Bhatia on October 26 last year, had ordered that if the high-level committee submits any report, it would not be implemented by the Ministry without the permission of the court, he said.

Lalu said the request for tabling of the final report, submitted on March 3, was sought following a demand from members in this regard.

The minister said the interim report of the Committee, submitted on January 17 last year, had already been tabled in both Houses of Parliament.

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