New Delhi, Feb 01: Putting an end to ongoing debate over disclosure of file notings, the Central Information Commission (
CIC) has directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to amend the contents of its website which stated that file notings cannot be divulged under the Right to Information Act.
The
CIC, by this order, made it clear that the file notings may be asked to be provided to information seekers under the act.
In a major embarrassment to the DoPT, the nodal government body under the
RTI Act, the commission sternly directed it to "suitably amend its website" in a month and remove all such instructions which were contrary to
CIC's earlier decisions pertaining to disclosure of file notings.
"The DoPT as the nodal ministry must realize that it is bound by the provisions of an enactment and it cannot do anything or act in a manner which will be contrary to the provisions of any law", said Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah in a recent order.
"In fact that ministry cannot escape its obligations under the act nor can it take the plea that the commission can only give recommendations and issue directions," it said rejecting DoPT's contentions that it was not the public authority.
The order came on an appeal filed by one Pyare Lal Verma who was denied disclosure of certain file notings by the railways on the ground that as per the instructions available on the DoPT website such notings cannot be acceded to under the act.
Zee News - Disclosure of file notings: CIC asks DoPT to amend website=