A year after senior IFS officer Harish Kumar Dogra was recalled as high commissioner to New Zealand, the Central Information Commission has asked the Ministry of External Affairs to place before it all documents related to it for its examination.
Acting on an Right to Information application, the commission asked the MEA to furnish the records by June 29.
Information Commissioner O P Kejariwal issued the direction to the MEA on an application by Sanchit Sahijpal, a Gurgaon-based advocate, who sought to know the details, including correspondence, leading to the recall of the 1972-batch IFS officer from New Zealand.
Dogra was recalled last year, two years after his posting in New Zealand, on charges of misusing his position.
Alleging malafide intention, Dogra initially refused to obey the orders, but the government forced him to return in May 2006 by withdrawing his accreditation and suspending his diplomatic passport.
Sahijpal had filed an RTI application with the MEA in September seeking disclosure of government file notings on Dogra's recall order.
The Central public information officer of MEA rejected the plea, arguing that the matter involved relations with a foreign country and that the information was received in confidence from the foreign government.
Dissatisfied with MEA's response, Sahijpal moved an application with the Ministry's appellate authority. Failing to get a favourable response, the applicant moved the CIC to seek the information.
Recalled in the first week of March following some complaints, Dogra had attacked then foreign secretary Shyam Saran for the decision and said he would not return till the head of the foreign service retired in September-end 2006.
The secretary-rank official had circulated in Wellington a letter he had written to Saran, in which he accused the then foreign secretary of committing "impropriety".
He had demanded that Saran prove charges against him or resign as foreign secretary.
Appearance of the letter in local media in New Zealand had angered the external affairs ministry.
After a few days, Dogra dashed another letter to Saran, accusing him of violating the rules and his human rights and challenged him to prove charges against him.
The government had on April 18 stripped Dogra of accreditation and named K P Ernest as the new high commissioner to New Zealand.
Dogra refused to obey and decided to go on leave till Saran retired in September.
Dogra has also approached the Central Administrative Tribunal in Delhi challenging the recall order, but has failed to get any stay so far.
