Mumbai: Maharashtra Governor K Shankarnarayanan has referred the case of state Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, whose name came up in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam, for removal to the Supreme Court. The Governor referred the case to the Supreme Court on Tuesday under Section 17(1) of Right to Information Act.
Tiwari, a former IAS officer, was asked to resign by Maharashtra government following allegations of his involvement in Adarsh housing society scam.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had initiated removal procedures against Tiwari.
The Maharashtra Governor also sent the proposal to suspend Tiwari back to the state government on Tuesday on the grounds that it should seek advice from the judiciary and redraft the proposal.
Tiwari, whose son Omkar Tiwari has a flat in Adarsh society, reportedly withheld information on the controversial housing society. He was the secretary of Maharashtra Urban Development Department from 2000 to 2009 and is alleged to have played key role in his son's membership with Adarsh Society.
Earlier, Tiwari had applied for a long leave of three months starting from January 7. But the leave application was rejected by the Governor.
What is Section 17(1) of Right to Information Act:
Section 17(1) of RTI Act deals with the removal of state chief information commissioner or state information commissioner. The section says that 1) subject to the provisions of sub-section (3), the State Chief Information Commissioner or a State Information Commissioner shall be removed from his office only by order of the Governor on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity after the Supreme Court, on a reference made to it by the Governor, has on inquiry, reported that the State Chief Information Commissioner or a State Information Commissioner, as the case may be, ought on such ground be removed.
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