Indo-Pak Simla Accord should be declassified: Kerala CIC

Kochi, Aug 31 (UNI) Calling for proper declassification of files once the secrecy period is over, Kerala Chief Information Commissioner Palat Mohandas today said files such as the 1971 Indo-Pak Simla Accord should now be declassified.

Addressing a seminar here on the 'Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005', organised by the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Mohandas said every record has a duration during which it can be kept secret.

The various classifications such as ''top secret'', ''secret'', ''confidential'', ''restricted'' and ''free'' should be properly adhered to and once the secrecy period is over, the files should be declassified, he added.

Observing that at present no agency was doing a proper classification of records, he said the RTI Act would help in the continuous process of declassification of records.

Records such as the Indo-Pak Simla Accord should be declassified and put in the public domain, he added.

Describing the Right to Information Act as an ''antidote to corruption'', Mr Mohandas warned that sections of the bureaucracy were trying to assist the political leaders in keeping information out of public gaze.

Though for the time being the move to omit file notings from the right to information had been put on hold, it was not completely removed from the screen, he added.

Stating that information would be incomplete if the notings were not revealed, the Chief Information Commissioner said there was no harm in showing the notings to the public.

''This is one of the most important ways to establish the culpability of the officers,'' he added.

However, he noted that the right to information was not absolute and said that under the Central Act, 18 institutions had been exempted from the act's purview.

He said several acts such as the Officials Secrets Act and Service Conduct Rules will have to be amended to bring them in line with the RTI Act.

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