New Delhi: Govt to yield documents related to Netaji

New Delhi, July 06: The Government has been directed by the Central Information Commission to furnish the information relating to the disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose sought by a citizen.

The CIC issued the directive after the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) turned down the request made by one Sayantan Dasgupta of New Delhi under the Right to Information(RTI) Act.

He had asked for certified copies of all documents exhibited before the Netaji Enquiry Committee of 1956 headed by Shah Nawaz Khan and the One-man Commission of Enquiry headed by Justice G D Khosla to enquire into the circumstances leading to the disappearance of Netaji.

The Ministry had refused the information on the ground that the documents sought under the RTI Act were voluminous and top secret in nature and might lead to chaos in the country if disclosed.

It had also said that the information asked for was more than 20 years old and as such, its disclosure is exempted under section 8(3) of the RTI Act.

Moreover, they submitted that the committee appointed to go into the disappearance part of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had come to the conclusion that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose died in an air crash. It was tabled before the Parliament and was in public domain.

So, there was nothing that the Government hides in this respect.

However, the CIC after holding lengthy hearings for both sides directed the Ministry to provide the information sought within a period of three months from the date of receipt of this order.

It said the Ministry may in the meanwhile examine and analyse as to which specific documents were covered by Section 8(1) (a) and as such exempted from disclosure.

In case, it said, the Ministry decides not to disclose certain documents, it shall record reasons for such non-disclosure together with the name and designation of the authority arriving at the conclusion of non-disclosure, and submit the same before this Commission not later than three months from the date of the receipt of this order.

The reasons so recorded shall be submitted before this Commission on or before September 30 so as to enable this Commission to give further directions, if any, in this regard.

Noting that the MHA had expressed its resolve before it to examine these records of undoubted national importance and send them to the National Archives as required under the Public Records Act, 1993 (No.69 of 1993), the Commission has recommended that this resolve be translated into action as early as possible.

''By doing so, the MHA would not only be discharging its legal duties and rendering an essential service to a public cause, it may finally help resolve an unsolved mystery of independent India,'' it said.

The full Bench decision of the CIC was delivered yesterday.

UNI