The Maharashtra government on Tuesday recommended that State Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari be suspended after he was accused of involvement in the Adarsh housing society scam.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said at a press conference here that the Cabinet had sent the recommendation to the Governor. “We have submitted enough grounds why we think his appointment will not be in the interests of the State.”
The action has been initiated according to Section 17 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, he said.
As per the provisions of the section, the State Information Commissioner can be removed from the office by the Governor only after the Supreme Court (SC) conducts an inquiry on the recommendation of the Governor and approves the removal.
For that, the Governor has to first refer the recommendation of removal to the Supreme Court.
Pending such an inquiry, the Governor has the right to suspend the Commissioner and prohibit him from entering the office. The Cabinet has recommended to the Governor to issue such orders against Mr. Tiwari.
Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, who received the formal request of referring Mr. Tiwari's removal to the Supreme Court on Tuesday itself, is expected to take a decision on the matter soon.
Mr. Chavan said that the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers are protected under Article 311 of the Constitution, but “he [Tiwari] is retired and has been appointed for political considerations. Therefore action has been initiated against him as per the Right to Information [Act] rules.”
When asked why no action was being taken against the serving IAS officers, he said that a separate committee had been appointed to look into the matter and that case should be treated separately.
Second such bureaucrat
Mr. Tiwari has become the second bureaucrat to be consumed by the scam. Two retired IAS officers Mr. Tiwari and Subhash Lalla were under tremendous pressure to resign from their positions after their names propped up in the Adarsh matter.
