CIC: Information on unit set up by General V K Singh can't be divulged

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has dismissed an appeal that sought disclosure of an internal Army report on the now-disbanded intelligence unit, the Technical Service Division (TSD), holding that such sensitive information cannot be made public due to national security concerns and international implications.

Set up in mid-2010 by junior external affairs minister General V K Singh (retd) when he was the Army chief, the TSD had become highly controversial with a flurry of allegations and counter-allegations.

It was accused of misusing funds, illegal monitoring of phones, trying to topple the Omar Abdullah government in J&K as well as trying to scuttle Gen Bikram Singh's appointment as the Army chief after General V K Singh.

TSD supporters, however, had claimed the small specialised unit, headed by Colonel Munishwar Nath “Hunny“ Bakshi, had conducted some remarkable intelligence operations, including ones in the northeast and in Pakistan.

Apart from the factional feud within the Army , it had then also led to a war of words between Congress and BJP.

Col Bakshi's wife Aparna Datta had appealed to the CIC for access to the report on the TSD prepared by a board of officers, led by LtGen Vinod Bhatia, which had led to the disbanding of the unit after Gen Bikram Singh became the Army chief in May 2012.

But rejecting her appeal, the CIC has now held that “any disclosure of information would reveal operational mechanism and functioning“ of intelligence services.

“Further, the report has brought out various objectives of TSD, details of its methodology, trade-craft as well as operational expenditure of the secret service fund,“ it said.

The CIC strongly believes if information of this nature is put in the public domain, it “will invite unnecessary speculation and will have substantive bearing“ on national security as well as international implications, it said.

“We have to bear in mind that intelligence-gathering mechanism is, by its nature, is very sensitive and impinges on the security of the country. Disclosure of any information related to this will be prejudicial to national security ,“ it added.