The Central Information Commission has directed the Home Ministry to draw a list of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers facing criminal charges.
The order of Information Commissioner Yashovardhan Azad came on the plea of activist Nutan Thakur who had demanded from the ministry the details of criminal cases registered against different IPS officers across the country.
In its response, the police wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said the files in connection with registration of criminal cases against IPS officers are not maintained by the Police-I Division Ministry.
The PIO said since Police Division, MHA does not record such details of criminal cases registered against IPS officers, the query was transferred to National Crime Record Bureau. Upon a query by the Commission as regards the reasons for transfer of RTI application, the PIO pleads ignorance, Azad pointed out.
Azad noted that the RTI application was transferred without the application of mind.
"NCRB is a bulk aggregator of crime record and does not segregate & retain record as per the requirement of the appellant," he noted.
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The Home Ministry being the parent ministry of IPS cadre, it would invariably get information regarding chargesheeting of an officer of the service which has around 9,000 officers under it across the country, said Azad, an ex-IPS officer who has served on senior positions in the intelligence apparatus of the country before joining the CIC.
"Irrespective of the allotted state cadre of the officer, MHA being the nodal agency must be having details of cases registered against serving IPS officers. However, as per the PIO, no such list is carved out containing names of IPS officers against whom criminal cases have been registered," he said.
Azad asked the ministry official to give an affidavit about his statement of not having list of IPS officers facing criminal charges.
"As the cadre controlling authority, MHA's role is to look after the conditions of service of IPS officers. Disciplinary proceedings are part of this role since these are entered into an officer's personal file," he pointed out.
The Information Commissioner said the ministry's task is to monitor the disciplinary proceedings and enquiry against the officers too, which are then analysed during the process of empanelment.
Even if such information is not kept readily available, the Commission directs MHA to draw such list clearly bringing out numerical data of officers of IPS cadre against whom criminal cases, he said, adding the list to be provided to Thakur within four weeks.
He directed that no further details shall be revealed.
Greater transparency qua an elite service of the nation would inculcate greater transparency in the system which would promote the credibility of governance, he said.