OTTAWA (CP) - A federal review committee has upheld a complaint by a diplomatic nominee that he was improperly denied a consular posting in India on grounds that he was a security risk.
Lawyers for Bhupinder Liddar and Foreign Affairs Canada have begun talks after the Security Intelligence Review Committee ruled Liddar was improperly denied a top secret security clearance.
Liddar's October 2003 appointment as consul general to Chandigarh, in northern India, was subsequently cancelled, though he has been collecting his $100,000 salary.
His lawyer, Janice Payne, said in a statement the report upheld Liddar's complaint and specifically recommends that he be granted the required security clearance.
Payne said SIRC veteran Paule Gauthier was categorical in her findings that there was no basis for the conclusion drawn by CSIS that Liddar was a security risk.
