Nearly two months after it turned down a request for information under the Right To Information Act, 2005, surrounding Indian Police Service (IPS) officers across the country, who since 2014 have been prematurely retired, removed or dismissed from service, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has revealed that 13 officers have been retired in public interest while five officers were dismissed.
The MHA also informed that sanction for prosecution has been accorded by the Ministry against five IPS officers across the country. While the Ministry shared the names of all officers who had been retired, dismissed and those facing sanction of prosecution, the names of 24 IPS officers, who are presently under suspension, were not revealed, stating that “there’s no public interest involved”.
Hemant Kumar, an advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court through RTI application in February 10, 2021 had sought information on officers against whom action had been taken since May, 2014.
Information was also sought on all IPS officers against whom sanction of prosecution has been accorded by the MHA (central government) to State governments, special courts etc.
Earlier on March 11 in reply to the RTI application, the MHA had denied information, stating that no public interest was involved in providing the information and as such, the information sought can’t be provided under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005.
However, on May 10, the MHA in continuation to the letter of March 11 shared most of the information.
Mr. Kumar questioned why the MHA was reluctant to reveal the names of the 24 IPS officers under suspension. “In September 2017, the MHA had provided me the names and details of 15 IPS officers who were then placed under suspension. But now the similar information is being denied,” he said.
