Imphal, Oct 13:   The Manipur High Court has instructed the Chief Engineer of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to present official records related to the recruitment and appointment of 91 Section Officer Grade-I posts, as per the notification dated November 10, 2023. This order was issued in connection with a writ petition filed by Thokchom Bebina, the Superintending Engineer of the Urban Circle at PHED, challenging a ruling made by the Manipur Information Commission on August 22, 2024.

The Commission had ordered the provision of information requested under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Rishikumar Soraisham and imposed a penalty of ₹25,000 on Thokchom Bebina, the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) of PHED, for not supplying the requested information. This case arose from an RTI application filed by Soraisham, who sought details about the recruitment process, including his answer script, the marks he received, cut-off marks for OBC candidates, and additional related information.

During a hearing on September 5, 2024, the petitioner’s counsel argued that the Chief Engineer had been contacted on August 30, 2024, to request the release of four out of the six pieces of information sought. The counsel assured the Court that these documents would be provided within two weeks of receipt. For the remaining two pieces of information, which involved third parties, the counsel indicated that notices would be sent to those parties to obtain their consent before releasing the information.

After considering the submissions, the High Court suspended the penalty order issued by the Information Commission and directed the petitioner to submit documents related to items 1 to 4 within two weeks. The next hearing, initially set for October 9, 2024, was rescheduled to October 10, 2024.

During the October 10 hearing, the Court observed that the Chief Engineer had not complied with its order to provide the necessary documents. In response, the Court reiterated its instruction for the Chief Engineer to produce the official records pertaining to the recruitment and appointment of the 91 Section Officer Grade-I positions by the next hearing.

Additionally, the Court directed the State Chief Information Commissioner of the Manipur Information Commission not to proceed with Appeal Case No. 44 of 2024 without prior authorization from the Court.