Mumbai
The state government's decision- to challenge the judicial inquiry ordered by the state information commission over apparent manipulation of 26/11 call records- was based on a senior advocate's advice that the information commissioner was "acting on extraneous consideration and shows bias" and "seems to target Maria" (Rakesh Maria, Mumbai police commissioner). The state had sought an opinion from senior advocate and legal expert, Shekhar Naphade.
Updated : Jan 29, 2015, 07:27 AM IST
The state government's decision- to challenge the judicial inquiry ordered by the state information commission over apparent manipulation of 26/11 call records- was based on a senior advocate's advice that the information commissioner was "acting on extraneous consideration and shows bias" and "seems to target Maria" (Rakesh Maria, Mumbai police commissioner). The state had sought an opinion from senior advocate and legal expert, Shekhar Naphade.
It was through a Right to Information (RTI) application that dna discovered the government's reasons for challenging the order.
In the order dated July 9, 2014, the state chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad had torn into Rakesh Maria, Mumbai police commissioner, as well as the then additional chief secretary for "withholding and giving misleading" information. In the same order he had directed the chief secretary to appoint a commission under an existing or a retired judge to probe the matter. The information was sought by Vinita Kamte, widow of 26/11 martyr Ashok Kamte. She wished to find out if there was an unreasonable delay in getting help to Kamte, who eventually succumbed to his bullet injuries.
Vinita Kamte had complained about getting two call records of the same period with discrepancies in timings. Before the judicial enquiry, the commission had asked the additional chief secretary to probe into these discrepancies. The additional chief secretary had stated that the original content was the same and that wrong copies were provided to Kamte. An aggrieved Kamte had again approached the commission which had then passed the order about the judicial enquiry.
In his opinion that runs into three pages, Naphade stated that the commission order was "perverse" and that it "seems to target Rakesh Maria" as per his opinion. The advocate's opinion was based on the grounds that Maria was not designated as an information officer or any other functionary under the provisions of the RTI Act. "It appears that the notice issued to Mr. Rakesh Maria is with a pre-designed purpose of targeting him," stated the letter.
The letter also makes mention of a "senior police officer" in private telling Gaikwad that police did manipulate call records. The officer's name was not disclosed by the information commissioner. "Mr. Jamal Khan, (advocate for the state on some matters) made an application dated 1 July, 2014 and placed above facts on records. By the said application the CIC was requested to examine the police officer who gave information about the alleged manipulation of records. These was no response from CIC to the said application. This clearly shows that the CIC is acting on an extraneous consideration and shows bias on his part," stated the letter signed by Naphade.
The letter goes on to state that the commission can only deal with the role of assistant information officer and information officer and not the police commissioner. When dna contacted Gaikwad, in an sms reply he said, "No comments. It is quasi judicial matter pl (sic)." Maria was lately allowed by the state to approach the court for relief.
When approached for comment, Vinita Kamte said, "I do not know about the information commissioner targeting Maria. He (Gaikwad) is talking about manipulations that prima facie appeared to have happened. And it is not that Maria and the home department were not given an opportunity to make their say. None of them turned up (to the hearings). Firstly, I shouldn't have been fighting this also. They should have made sure that they call me, make me sit across the table and convince me."