The Asian Age: Mumbai: Friday, June 16, 2017.
The Bombay HC
has asked the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) to file a reply to the
objections raised by the state government against the CIC order on former
Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria.
This was
after Vinita Kamte, wife of slain top cop Ashok Kamte complained to the CIC
that Maria had given her misleading information about her husband’s calls
before his death while the actual reasons that she found through RTI were
contrary. Kamte had approached the CIC and complained about Maria after which
the CIC ordered an enquiry against him.
A division
bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Bharti Dhangre heard a petition filed by the
state government claiming that the CIC does not have the power to direct the
government to initiate an inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act against
Maria.
In July 2014,
the then CIC Ratnakar Gaikwad in a three page order had said that while the
information sought by Vinita Kamte was available, there was a deliberate
attempt to not share it and cause delays.
Vinita
through RTI had sought call logs of wireless conversations between the control
room and Kamte’s van in which he was killed on the night of 26/11. She had
alleged that the information given by the police was fake and did not match the
original call data records submitted before the court where the trial for the
26/11 case was conducted.
Based on her
complaint, Gaikwad had ordered an inquiry against Maria who was heading the
police control room for some time during the 72-hour siege in November 2008.
However,
government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani while filing the petition had said that
the CIC’s order was not valid. “At the most, the commissioner can only impose
penalty or hold some officer responsible for not providing information to the
applicant,” he said.