However, the Action Taken Report (ATR) prepared by the Shiv Sena-BJP government dismissed the findings.

``The government is unable to understand the reasons that necessitated the Commission to go out of its way, as if to give a clean chit to the then chief minister and his other colleagues,'' the ATR said.

The government could not agree with the report, which had exonerated Pawar and others ``from the liability of a perhaps avoidable tragedy,'' it added.

Both reports were presented by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi in the Legislative Assembly today.

In his report, Justice Dani also held that the lathi-charge resorted to by the police to control the morcha was ``fully justified as well as adequate.''

At the same time, it observed that ``it cannot be thatthe conduct and behaviour of the participants of the morcha was reprehensible.''

``By giving due weight and proper appreciation of to the evidence adduced by both the sides, the incident in question is required to be styled and held as an unfortunate one''.

The Dani Commission was appointed by the Sharad Pawar government following the tragedy that befell the group of Gowaris that had marched to Vidhan Bhavan that fateful day to demand the listing of their community as a Scheduled Tribe.

It submitted its report to the government in March this year after having received several extensions over a three-year period.

Acquitting Pawar and his colleagues -- then Tribal Development minister Madhukar Pichad, Surupsingh Naik and Minister of State for Tribal Welfare Marotrao Kowase -- the report observed that ``it cannot be held by any stretch of imagination that Sharad Pawar, the then chief minister, was aware of the demands of the Gowari morcha and about the background of the incident as well as the incidentitself and as to what happened at Morris College at that point.''

It went on to state that in view of this finding, ``no liability can therefore be fastened or no fault can be found with Mr Sharad Pawar in this respect''

The Commission also rejected allegations by the Gowari Sanghatana and the Opposition that Pawar and Pichad had mishandled the morcha, resulting in the mishap.

On the events that led to the tragedy, the Commission noted that the morcha consisting of around 50,000 people was stopped by the police near Morris College. It said the disturbances began when the participants started dashing against the barricades around 5.30 pm. ``The participants at the front got up and started rushing towards a car with a red light presuming that some minister must have arrived at the spot,'' the report says. The police, fearing trouble, resorted to a lathi-charge to control the morcha, it concludes.

The Commission said it was ``essential and necessary'' for the police to use force. If no action had beentaken, it would have led to a catastrophe, it added. The recourse to the lathi-charge therefore could not be ``styled as unjustified'', the report said.

The Commission noted that the lathi-charge ``made the morcha participants retreat'' and ``they started running helter skelter.'' Many of the participants were squatting in the front and several of the children were asleep, it pointed out.

The report said that medical evidence ``conclusively proves that the cause for almost all deaths was traumatic asphyxia, a result of chest compression and obstruction to the respiratory system.''

Many participants became breathless and some got trampled upon, it said. ``The deaths and injuries are the outcome of the stampede and not the result of the lathi-charge by the police. This also explains the adequacy and justness of the police in resorting to lathi-charge.''

The Commission said it was ``necessary to note'' that the participants as well as the leaders of the morcha were ``not responsible for theincident.''

Pawar, Pichad, Surupsingh Naik and Marotrao Kowase were among those who filed affidavits before the Commission.

Statements by city journalists Shriram Joshi and Mrunlini Naniwade, press photographers Ashok Savane and Datta Hiwase and independent witness Vijay Dandige were also recorded.

The Commission suggested that water sprayers and rubber bullets be first employed to disperse unruly crowds, and that lathis be used -- after giving a second warning -- only when the first two methods turned out to be ``ineffective and fruitless.''