The Commission, which concluded 16 months of hearings and presented an interim report to the Canadian Government before the Christmas holidays, reconvenes on February 14 for a two-day public hearing, the panel said in a statement. The public inquiry panel will start the work of compiling the final report to be submitted to the Government this spring.

In its interim report on December 11, the panel had put on record the trauma of the victims’ families and castigated the Canadian Government for short-changing them on compensation and its tardy response to the tragedy.

The probe panel was set up by the Government in May 2006 after acquittals of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri by the Air India trial in 2005 led to demands by the victims’ families and Indo-Canadian politicians for a public inquiry to fix responsibility for the tragedy. Its mandate is to point out systemic failures that led to one of the worst aviation tragedy. Former Canadian Supreme Court chief justice John Major heads the inquiry.