Friday, May 6 2005 21:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: The Mukherjee Commission probing the mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose today (May 6, 2005) said it was ready to submit its final report by May 14 deadline even as the Centre was yet to respond to appeals by Forward Bloc to extend its term.

"The Commission will submit its final report, which is ready, by May 14 since no official communication has been received as yet for extending its term further," Justice M K Mukherjee told PTI in Kolkata.

Set up in 1999 by the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) Government, the probe panel wound up the hearing process on February 22, six days ahead of schedule and began preparing its final report from March 1.

The Commission had visited Taiwan in January this year and wanted to visit Russia for some more material relating to Netaji which could not have been done before the end of May due to acute cold there.

Forward Bloc, a party founded by Netaji, had earlier demanded that the term of the commission be extended to enable it to visit Russia to get the required inputs for completing the investigation.

The demand came after the Commission, during its visit to Taiwan, found that there was no official record of any air crash at Taipei airport on August 18, 1945, in which Netaji was believed to been killed.

A Union Home Ministry sources had hinted last month that the Centre would give more time to the Commission, besides allowing it to visit more countries if required.

But till today the Commission, which has been enquiring into the disappearance of Netaji for the last six years, has not received any official communication from the Centre in this regard.

Incidentally, the Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seeking extension of the term of the Commission saying it was up to the Centre to grant an extension.