The Delhi High Court has asked the Army to hand over various reports relating to the death of Shaurya Chakra awardee Capt. Sumit Kohli to his family members.
The High Court said the Army will make available the reports relating to court of inquiry and autopsy of Kohli to his mother Veena and wife Akansha within 15 days.
It also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the Centre to be paid to the mother and wife of the army officer.
The court dismissed the appeal filed by the Centre against the order of Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the army to provide such informations.
"This court directs that the impugned order of the CIC in each case will be complied with by the Centre within a period of 15 days....," Justice S. Muralidhar said.
The court also said, "it was erroneous on the part of the centre to contend that the information pertaining to the son and the husband of the two Respondents (Veena and Akansha) respectively, cannot be provided as it pertains to events that transpired in the State of Jammu & Kashmir".
It was also stated by the Army that the death had occurred in Jammu and Kashmir and the RTI Act was not applicable there.
Captain Kohli's death in 2006 in Jammu and Kashmir was stated to be a case of alleged suicide by his unit. Moments after hearing the news of death of his son, Captain Kohli's father also passed away.
Veena Kohli, a resident of Chandigarh, has been demanding reports and other documents related to the court of enquiry, post-mortem and inquest proceedings conducted after the officer's death.
Army officials had not passed on documents to the officer's mother on the plea they could not be provided to individuals not governed by the Army Act.
An aggrieved Veena Kohli had approached the CIC pleading that the RTI act was applicable to the Army as it was a Central government organisation.
In its order in February last year, the CIC said the RTI Act should apply to all government organisations irrespective of their location and directed Army to provide the informations.
The CIC also had said that the court of inquiry proceedings are not excluded from the RTI Act and they have to be disseminated under it.
The commission, however, had made it clear that in cases where the disclosure of an inquiry can have national security ramifications, the proceedings can be held back.