Court gives relief to ex-Haryana state info commissioner

ASHA SHARMA WAS SENTENCED TO 3 YRS OF RIGOROUS IMPRISONMENT BY A LOWER COURT IN SEPT 2016 AFTER WHICH SHE FILED AN APPEAL AGAINST THE ORDER IN AN APPELLATE COURT

The Chandigarh district court gave relief to former Haryana state information commissioner Asha Sharma and suspended her conviction till the pendency of the case pertaining to forgery of records in a property dispute with her mother.

Asha Sharma was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a lower court in September 2016 after which she filed an appeal against the order in an appellate court.

The district court has sent the case to the mediation centre and directed both the complainant and Asha Sharma to negotiate the matter.

The court further directed mediation centre to send the report by February 26.

The complainant in the matter are the mother and brother of Asha Sharma.

Asha Sharma was convicted under Section 426 (mischief) and Section 466 (forgery of court record or public register) of the Indian Penal Code and she was awarded three years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of ₹1,000.

Her mother, Chander Kala had averred that on November 12, 1999, it transpired that the original will of late Col Balwant Singh, the husband of the complainant, was missing from the record.

It was revealed that on page numbers 10 and 11 of the file, there were a series of notings revealing that the original office file was taken to the residence of Asha Sharma on the orders of then AEO, Estate Office, UT, and the clerk concerned had made a noting that Asha Sharma had tampered with some documents in it.

Chander Kala had complained it to then advisor following which vigilance inquiry was marked.

On Chander Kala’s complaint, an inquiry was conducted and the report sent in 2000. A case under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468(forgery for purpose of cheating) and 477 (fraudulent cancellation, destruction, etc., of will, authority to adopt, or valuable security) of the IPC was registered against Asha Sharma.

The former officer was earlier in the news when she continued to reside in a government accommodation despite her retirement.