Moneylife: Pune: Wednesday,
March 20, 2013.
Despite
spending considerable money from the exchequer nobody from the government knew
the whereabouts of some of the reports on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. This is the
59th in a series of important judgements given by former Central Information
Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi that can be used or quoted in an RTI application
The Central
Information Commission (CIC), while allowing an appeal under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act, expressed anguish over missing reports of number of
Commissions on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
While issuing
a show-cause notice to the Public Information Officer (PIO) and directing the
home secretary of the Delhi government on 17 September 2010, Shailesh Gandhi,
the then Central Information Commissioner said, “...the PIO could not locate
the reports which must have been produced at considerable cost to the public
exchequer. It appears that a number of Commissions have made hay on the
anti-Sikh riots and given reports which have not delivered any justice to the
victims and yet these reports cannot be located.”
New Delhi
resident Suroor Mander, on 27 January 2010, sought information from the PIO of
Lok Sabha who transferred the application to home (Police-II) department of the
Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). Here is the
information she sought..
1.
Certified
photocopy of the Jain-Aggarwal Committee Report, Banerjee, Misra & Marwah
Commission Report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots with its annexures as well as all
other documents related to the Commission of inquiry.
2.
Certified
copy of the Action Taken Report submitted to the parliament on the Jain -
Agarwal, Banerjee, Misra & Marwah Commission Committee.
3.
Certified
photocopy of the Bhatt and Singh Commission Report on the 1989 Bhagalpur
anti-Muslim riots with its annexures as well as all other documents to the
Commission.
4.
Certified
copy of the Action Taken Report submitted to the Bihar Legislative Assembly on
the Bhatt and Singh Commission of inquiry.
5.
Certified
photocopy of the Narula Committee Report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots with its
annexures as well as all other documents related to the Commission of inquiry.
6.
Certified
copy of the Action Taken Report submitted to the parliament on the Narula
Committee.
7. Certified
photocopy of the Mahapatra Commission’s interim report on the 2007 Kandhamal
riots with its annexures as well as all other documents related to the
Commission.
8. Certified
copy of the Action Taken Report submitted to the Orissa Legislative Assembly on
the Mahapatra Commission of inquiry.
9. Certified
photocopy of the Kapur-Mittal Commission Report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots
with its annexures as well as all other documents related to the Commission of
Inquiry.
10. Certified copy of the Action Taken
Report submitted to the parliament on the Kapur-Mittal Commission of Inquiry.
11. Certified photocopy of the Nanavati
Commission Report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots with its annexures as well as all
other documents related to the Commission of Inquiry
12. Certified copy of the Action Taken
Report submitted to the parliament on the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry.
OP Wadhwa,
officer on special duty (OSD) to the chief secretary and PIO, Delhi,
transferred the RTI application to PIO of ADM (HQ) at divisional commissioner,
who on 22 January 2010 forwarded it to the PIO of the home department.
In his reply,
the PIO of home department, said, “The records pertaining to 1984 riots are
almost 25 years old and the same are not readily available with the home
department, Govt of NCT of Delhi. Efforts are being made to trace the records
from our record room, and it may take some time to trace the record in respect
of the information asked by you. This may be treated only as an interim reply
and as soon as we are able to trace the relevant records, the same would be
dealt/ provided as per the provisions of RTI Act, 2005”.
Due to
non-receipt of the required information, Ms Mander filed her first appeal.
While re-iterating the PIO's statement, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) in
his order again directed the PIO to provide a copy of the letter dated 25
February 2010 sent to her and provide the information immediately after
checking the record.
Ms Mander
then filed her second appeal before the Commission citing incomplete
information provided by the PIO.
During a
hearing, Mr Gandhi, the then CIC, observed that the RTI application was
transferred from the Union government to the state government and it was even
transferred twice before reaching the home department of GNCTD. He said, “After
that the PIO at the home department Delhi said that he could not locate the reports
which must have been produced at considerable cost to the public exchequer. In
bits and pieces they have managed to give some reports and yet the following
reports are missing completely:
- Marwah Commission on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots,
- Dhillon Committee on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and
- Narula Committee on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.”
“It appears
that a number of Commissions have made hay on the anti-Sikh riots and given
reports which have not delivered any justice to the victims and yet these
reports cannot be located. The appellant naively believes that the government
would have acted on these reports, whereas it appears nobody is even aware of
what these reports said,” the Commission said.
In a letter
on 29 March 2010, one PIO MA Ashref refused to provide the Kapur-Mittal
report on the anti-Sikh riots stating
that, “the report of KapurMittal Committee has been marked as secret and
therefore cannot be disclosed under the provisions of Official Secrets Act
1923”.
Mr Gandhi said
nearly four and half years after the RTI Act, 2005, had been implemented a PIO
must realize that refusal to give information can only be based on the
exemptions of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act. “No exemptions of Section-8(1) of
the RTI Act have been quoted by the PIO nor has he given any reasons to explain
how the information is exempt. Thus the action of the PIO is without any basis
in law,” he said.
The
Commission, while allowing the appeal issued a show-cause notice to the PIO and
directed Mr Ashref to give reasons as to why penalty should not be levied on
him.
Regarding the
reports of the Marwah Commission, Dhillon Committee and Narula Committee, the
CIC directed GS Patnaik, home secretary of GNCTD to file an affidavit to Ms
Mander before 10 October certifying that these reports are not with the Delhi
government.
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