Information panel asks Maharashtra government to probe false info on police

Economic Times: New Delhi: Wednesday, July 16, 2014.

The Maharashtra state information commission has directed the state government in an unprecedented move to institute an enquiry panel under a sitting or retired judge to probe into allegedly incorrect information furnished by the government with a "malafied intention" to destroy the evidence pertaining to events leading to death of police officer Ashok Kamte in November 26, 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.

The state chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said in his order that the state government knowingly furnished misleading information and destroyed information which was the subject of the Right to Information request filed by Vinita Kamte, wife of Ashok Kamte, in May 2011.

In its order passed on July 9, the panel exercised its power under section 19 (8) of the RTI Act and directed the government to set up an enquiry panel under Commission of Enquiry Act, 1952 to investigate the matter of home department furnishing incorrect information with a malafied intention to destroy the evidence.

Additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte was killed on the night of 26/11, along with the Anti-Terrorism Squad chiefHemant Karkare and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, in south Mumbai.

The state commission is well within its power in directing the government to form a committee of enquiry, said former Central Information CommissionerShailesh Gandhi. "It is an interesting development as usually the commission itself conducts enquiry rather than directing the government," he added. Although the commission's orders are binding on the government, they are hardly followed.

Vinita Kamte had sought call records of the police control room from November 26 to December 27, 2008 under the RTI act. The information provided to her in November 2009 and February 2010 was conflicting as it showed different timings and messages in the wireless records. Therefore, she approached the state information commission in May 2011, requesting it to hold an enquiry.

The matter was finally disposed this month after the first hearing in 2013. She claims that the three officers, who were injured and lying in a pool of blood, had messaged police control room but the department failed to take action.