President’s Medal to Tamil Nadu IPS officer goes missing

Shailesh Kumar Yadav, a 1993 batch IPS officer and currently the Police Commissioner of Trichy in Tamil Nadu, has claimed that on August 14, 2009, he got a telegram from the then Union home secretary G. K. Pillai, congratulating him on winning the President's Police Medal for meritorious service. Even though his name appeared in the home ministry's list of awardees, he never got the medal even after of lapse of more than three years of the announcement.

Mr. Yadav filed an RTI application with the MHA on June 27, 2011 seeking information on whether the President's Police Medal for meritorious service and the certificate for 2009 had been given to any of the officers whose names figure along with him on the home ministry's website. He asked why the delivery of the medal and the certificate has been delayed and when would he get the above awarded medal. He also sought copies of all communication that may have taken place pertaining to the delay in delivering the medal. The Director (Police) Inderjeet Kaur from the Ministry of Home Affairs informed the applicant that the query raised in the RTI application is not covered under the definition of information as per the RTI Act.

When the First Appellate Authority also endorsed the decision of the PIO, Mr. Yadav approached the Central Information Commission (CIC). The hearing was held on 21^st May 2012. The CIC has ruled that the home ministry has neither denied that Yadav's name finds mention among the list of awardees nor the point that he had got a congratulatory telegram; but no reason was provided by the MHA for dismissing Yadav's appeal. The CIC has directed that "The MHA has not quoted any provision of the RTI Act for denying the information, which is no doubt held by it in its record. The commission is of the view that Yadav's queries should be replied to within 10 days of receipt of this order."