Undertrial exercises his right to info

[ganpat1956]

AHMEDABAD: For the first time in Gujarat, an undertrial from Sabarmati Jail was allowed to inspect files relating to vigilance enquiries against him under Right to Information Act (RTI) with police escort.

Manhar Shah, a former employee of Punjab National Bank (PNB), and an undertrial for more than three years is fighting a lone battle against criminal proceedings against him in a financial misappropriation case.

The file inspection pertained to those alleged documents that were not submitted to the Gujarat CID crime by the bank while the investigations were on against Shah since August 2002.

The bank had replied to Shah's request under RTI Act for file inspection on February 1 this year, following which Shah had applied for a seven-day bail before the chief metropolitan magistrate KJ Upadhyay.

Upadhyay, denying the seven-day bail period, however, directed Sabarmati Jail authorities to arrange an escort for Shah on April 4 to go to the PNB regional office near Town Hall for file inspection.

"My father has marked certain documents needed to fight his case and has demanded copies of the same from PNB bank under section 2 (j) of the Act," says Shah's son Darshan Shah.

According to Shah, there were certain vigilance enquiry reports in possession of the bank that never formed a part of the chargesheet filed against him by the CID crime branch.

"I have finally managed to mark those documents and demanded a copy of the same. It will help me to fight my case," Shah told TOI.

However, PNB authorities denied Shah copies of the documents and asked him to file a fresh RTI application for them.

Undertrial exercises his right to info-Ahmedabad-Cities-NEWS-The Times of India

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