Former Army Chief VK Singh on Monday filed an RTI with the Defence Ministry seeking details of the Army probe, which according to media reports, blamed him for misusing Technical Services Division (TSD) of Military Intelligence during his tenure as the chief.
The Defence Ministry said it will take action on Singh’s application as per extant of RTI. Act. This reaction came after the Ministry said on Friday last following media reports regarding Singh that the Army report “impinges on matters of national security and, as such, the Government will take a decision and further actions after a careful examination of the report.”
It was unlikely that Singh will get a response as intelligence operations are exempt from RTI, sources said. However, Singh’s lawyer Vishwajeet Singh said they have sought a copy of the Army report. “We have also sought inspection of the file related to the issue and also asked what action has been taken by the Government on the story done by a particular media organisation on the issue,” he said.
On whether the top secret inquiry report could be sought through RTI applications, close aides of VK Singh said when the Government can leak the report to media organisations, it should also be willing to provide it to us as well.
The Army report about the functioning of the TSD during Singh’s tenure was prepared by Director General Military Operations(DGMO) lt General Vinod Bhatia and submitted to the Government in March this year.
The TSD was set up during the tenure of Singh and present chief Bikram Singh ordered an internal probe by Bhatia in August last year after allegations surfaced that the unit carried out unauthorised operations.
Media reports also alleged that the TSD had misused secret funds to topple Jammu & Kashmir Government in 2010 by paying Rs one crore to Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is now Agriculture Minister in State Cabinet. Singh has denied the charges leveled against him and the unit and termed them as laughable and motivated.