Copy of Court of Inquiry proceedings

Background

The son of the appellant was a Havaldar in the Army at Pune who was found to be habitual of drinking and was subjected to medical examination. He faced disciplinary proceedings and was discharged from the Army. Through a RTI application, huge information from PIO about his son was sought. The respondent submitted that the entire information has been supplied to the appellant except for (i) copy of COI proceedings; & (ii) copy of AFMS-10 as these documents are ‘confidential’ in nature and cannot be supplied to the appellant.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission noted that the appellant’s son has been discharged from service. Therefore, the Commission found no harm in giving a copy of the AFMS- 10 to the appellant. Further, as the appellant’s son was concerned with the COI proceedings in one way or the other, therefore, the Commission held that there is no harm in providing copies of the statements recorded during the proceedings to the appellant.

Citation: Surjit Singh v. Army Engineering Group and Centre in file no. CIC/LS/A/2011/002755