Ministry of Defence declines to provide information on TSD
17 Nov, 2013
During the tenure of General V K Singh, the former Army Chief of India, a Military Intelligence unit, Technical Support Division (TSD) was set up which was disbanded soon after General Bikram Singh took over as Army Chief in May, 2012. A Board of Officers inquiry was conducted which recommended a CBI probe into "unauthorised" covert operations being conducted by the unit.
Recently, General V K Singh had filed an application with the Ministry of Defence under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get a copy of the Board of Officers inquiry report on the functioning of TSD and had also asked the Ministry to allow him to inspect the related files.
However, the reply to the application, given by the Defence Ministry, states that the requested information could not be provided as it might prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India. The reply from the Ministry expressed its regrets about not disclosing the demanded information citing its exemption under Section 8(1)(a)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;
of the RTI Act.