Forces to disclose officers' ratings

In what could open the floodgates for Right to Information (RTI) application in the armed forces, the Central Information Commission has allowed disclosure of approach papers and notings that are placed before the review selection board of the defence services.

The notings, which include comments by superiors on officers being considered by the board, have been treated as confidential so far.

In the light of the CIC order, there could be a spurt in RTI applications as well as litigation by disgruntled officers who might differ with a poor rating. The information commission has ordered that the documents be made public within 10 days