Minutes of Cabinet meetings – appointment of Secretary level officers in the Government since 2005 – such appointments are processed in individual files - will lead to disproportionate diversion of the resources
2 Aug, 2013Minutes of the meetings of Union Cabinet since 2009 – can be disclosed only after the decision has been taken by the cabinet - it is the relevant Ministry and not cabinet secretariat which knows if the matter is complete or not
Appointment of Secretary level officers in the Government since 2005 – such appointments are processed in individual files – will require compilation and would lead to disproportionate diversion of the resources – beyond the purview of RTI Act
Order
1. In his RTI application, the Appellant had sought three sets of information, one relating to the petitions transferred by the Cabinet Secretariat to the Ministry of Finance, the second relating to the minutes of the meetings of the Union Cabinet since the year 2009 and the third in respect of the appointment of Secretary level officers in the Government of India since the year 2005. The CPIO concerned had responded to him and provided the desired information against the first query. In respect of the second query, the CPIO had advised him to approach the respective ministries to access the information since the minutes of the Cabinet meetings were exempt under the provisions of section 8(1)(i) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. In regard to the third and final query, the CPIO had observed that it was not specific enough to merit the disclosure of any information. Against the reply of the CPIO concerned, the Appellant had preferred an appeal which, according to him, was disposed of only after the CIC issued the hearing notice.
2. The Appellant strongly argued that the minutes of the Cabinet meetings should be disclosed by the Cabinet Secretariat and he should not be asked to approach individual Ministries. On the other hand, the Respondents argued that the decision of the Cabinet as recorded in the minutes was exempt from disclosure until the matter was complete or over. According to them, it is only the relevant Ministry which would know if the matter relating to any decision by the Cabinet is complete or not. The Cabinet Secretariat, therefore, cannot speculate on the behalf of any particular Ministry and decide to disclose the minutes relating to the proposal emanating from that Ministry. We tend to agree with this. Section 8(1)(i) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; of the RTI Act ordinarily exempts all Cabinet papers including the records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers which would include the minutes. However, all such records can be disclosed in the public domain once the decision has been taken and the matter is complete or over. Various Ministries of the government send proposals to the Cabinet Secretariat for placing before the Council of Ministers. After the proposal is considered and a decision taken, the Cabinet Secretariat forwards the relevant
minutes of the Cabinet to the Ministry concerned to take further action. Therefore, it is obvious that it is the relevant Ministry which alone can decide if the matter relating to the decision of the Cabinet is complete or over. There is no way the Cabinet Secretariat would be in a position to know about this except, of course, about those Cabinet decisions which are taken on its own proposals. In view of this, the CPIO has rightly advised the Appellant to approach specific Ministries for the desired information.
3. Since the Cabinet Secretariat itself might have moved proposals to the Union Cabinet during this period, the CPIO can surely disclose the minutes on those proposals subject to the provisos to section 8(1)(i) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; of the RTI Act. We direct him to do so within 15 working days of receiving this order and provide the relevant information to the Appellant.
4. Now, this brings us to the third and final query. In this, the Appellant has wanted to get all the documents relating to the posting of Secretary level officers in the Central Government. According to the Respondents, there is no information available in the Cabinet Secretariat on all such appointments made during a year in a compiled form; appointment to each individual post at the level of the Secretary is processed in individual files and, therefore, in order to find out about all such appointments made during the period beginning 2005, the CPIO will have to go through a large number of files and identify the relevant records, obviously, an exercise which will lead to disproportionate diversion of the resources of the Cabinet Secretariat. Instead, if the Appellant would specify any particular appointment or a few appointments, it should be possible for the CPIO to locate those files and provide the information. We tend to agree with the CPIO in this regard. We understand that there are hundreds of posts in the Central Government at the level of Secretary and Secretary equivalent. The total number of appointments made over a period of nearly 7 years would have to be found out from hundreds of files. We cannot expect the CPIO or the Cabinet Secretariat to engage in collecting and collating this information without disproportionately diverting their resources. Here again, it would be practical if the Appellant old specify the appointment of any particular Secretary and then seek the information.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Kishanlal Mittal v. Cabinet Secretariat in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/001449