This commission holds that following letters were docketed at serial 135 & 136 at page 28 of the Note Sheet of File No. 29-G-2 of which the docketing on the note sheet was concealed through pasting of paper as found during the examination of Original File by the Commission on 07-10-2021 & page 29 of the Note Sheet was missing in the original file No. 29-G-2 examined by the Commission on 07-10-2021.
i. DWC letter No. 1951/29-G-2 dated 12-08-2013 written by Mr. Bashir Ahmed Kherani, Ex-Director, Survey of Pakistan.
ii. Response to the above letter at Sl (i) above made by MS Distributors vide its letter No. 2191/AD dated 10-12-2013.
The Respondent vide its letter No. 132-C/ 1-A-231 dated 12-04-2021 submitted before this commission that correspondence requested by appellant vide Sl. iv, v & vi of the information request were not made part of the record by Mr. Bashir Ahmed Kherani, Ex-Director and therefore disowned the same information to be part of official record.
Mr. Bashir Ahmed Kherani, Ex-Director being witness in the matter denied the stance of public body during the course of hearing on 23-09-2021 and through his written statement dated 02-06-2021 & affidavit dated 23-09-2021. The witness maintained that that he had properly made the correspondence under consideration part of official record by docketing it at serial 135 & 136 at page 28 of the Note sheet of File No. 29-G-2.
The examination of the Original File by the Commission on 07-10-2021 at PIC Islamabad conforms with the statement of witness in this regard.
This commission is of the view that this is not a matter of mere error and omission but matter of unlawful appropriation of powers through tampering of official records. This commission hopes that it is only a one-off case and not a trend.
This commission holds that it is prima facie a case of destruction or, tampering of official records, or both.
This commission is of the view that this matter needs to be investigated by Federal Investigation Agency through Concerned Police Department. The commission hopes that if the investigating agency determines that the documents have been tempered with for nefarious ends, those involved will be brought to justice.