A High Court judge in Belfast has said a date for publication of the Cory reports into allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces must be given by March 22nd.
The British government was accused of trying to "sex down" the reports by its delay in publishing them.
Mr Séamus Treacey QC, for the families of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane and LVF leader Billy Wright, told the court an attempt by lawyers acting for the Secretary of State to delay a judicial review into publication was "unlawful".
Retired Canadian judge Peter Cory, who gave the British and Irish governments his reports last October, has told the families of Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright that he was recommending inquiries into their deaths.
A judicial review brought by Mr Finucane's widow, Geraldine, into the government's failure to publish the report was expected to be heard yesterday. But crown lawyer Mr Dermot Morgan QC applied for a three-week adjournment, citing reasons of privacy and the right to life of 100 people named in the reports, whom he said had to be informed before publication.
Mr Treacey said: "These families fear what is actually happening is the government is sexing down the report.
"The applicants are justifiably cynical that on the very eve of the judicial review the government is seeking an adjournment."
He observed that the Secretary of State was to receive an award on behalf of the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, in the US on March 16th in relation to Northern Ireland. "There is cynicism among the applicants that this case is being delayed so as not to damage his standing in the St Patrick's Day celebrations."
The Secretary of State was acting unlawfully in not publishing the reports, he added.
Two key witnesses in the Finucane case were already dead - William Stobie and Brian Nelson. "There is an interest in sexing- down the report to stop information from getting into the public domain."
It was "simply outrageous" that officials from the PSNI, Ministry of Defence and DPP had seen extracts of the reports, Mr Treacey said.
Mr Morgan said this was with regard to security issues. Those named in the reports had rights to privacy, life and fairness, and informing them had taken longer than expected. "There is a difficulty about dealing with \ national security and sensitive information. The disclosure of any information could endanger those rights."
Mr Justice Gillen said the lateness in making the request for an adjournment "engendered suspicion", but added he had to take into account the rights of those named in the reports.
Allowing the three-week adjournment, he said that while he had great sympathy for the applicants' desire to have the reports published without further delay, there was a need for caution in not infringing the fundamental rights of other people named in the reports. The court must be given a date for publication when the hearing begins on March 22nd, he said.