Madhya Pradesh State Information Commission (MPSIC) in a remarkable move on Thursday issued orders that Special Armed Forces (SAF) of MP Police despite not being under the purview of Right To Information (RTI) Act, could not deny information on corruption and human rights.
MPSIC in its order said that the MPSAF would have to compulsorily provide service books and attested copies of time-bound pay scale and promotion orders to its employees on their demand. The important order came from the MPSIC while delivering its judgment in the case of two appellants.
Notably, Rampratap Singh Rajawat and Ramlakhan Sharma both retired from the post of platoon commander from MPSAF after denied of getting their service books and attested copies of time-bound pay scale and promotion orders appealed with the MPSIC. The first appellant officer and DIG MPSAF Gwalior Range and Public Information Officer Commandant 17th Battalion Bhind denied providing giving them their service documents to both the appellants. The application was turned down on the basis that the General Administration Department (GAD) by issuing notification under section 24 (4) of the RTI act made the MPSAF out of purview of RTI.
State Information Commissioner (SIC) Atmadeep rejected the rationale of first appellant officer and public information officer accepted the argument of the appellants and accepted their appeal. SIC Atmdeep while delivering judgment in both the cases said that the first appellant officer overlooked the sub-section 4 of the section 24 that says that information could not be provided in cases of corruption of human rights.
The SIC in its order instructed the public information officer to make available the service related documents of the appellants to them and submit its reports to the commission on the next hearing scheduled on August 25.