Chandigarh, Aug. 12 -- The Punjab State Information Commission (PSIC) has directed the state personnel department to disclose information regarding departmental inquiries handled by retired additional district and sessions judge BC Gupta, while flagging gaps in the government's system for maintaining records of inquiries entrusted to retired judicial officers.

The order, passed by chief information commissioner Inderpal Singh on Monday came in an appeal filed by RTI applicant Harinder Singh Sidhu, who had sought details of the number of inquiries marked to, pending with and decided by Gupta between January 2020 and June 2023.

According to the order, the personnel department had initially denied the information, stating that inquiries we...