CIC asks Defence Ministry to reply to RTI application filed in defamation case
25 Dec, 2013
A criminal defamation complaint was filed by Lt. Gen. (retd) Tejinder Singh in March, 2012 against five persons including the then army chief V K Singh in which he had accused them of defaming him through a press release which accused him of offering a bribe of Rs. 14 crore to the army chief for clearing a truck deal.
Seeking action against those involved in the press release, the complainant had also given a representation to the Defence Minister after the Delhi High Court directed the disciplinary authority to take action as per law. Thereafter, Tejinder Singh filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details of the actions taken on his representations.
As the matter was brought before the Central Information Commission, it asked the army to transfer the RTI application to the Defence Ministry within five days. As per the CIC order, the Defence Ministry will then provide the requested information to the appellant. The CIC has asked the CPIO, Defence Ministry to furnish the information within three weeks of receiving the application.