Recording of the speeches of late MA Jinnah and other prominent leaders who went over to Pakistan in 1947 denied u/s 8(1)(a) - matter remanded back to PIO to pass a speaking order explaining why such a view is being taken
30 Jul, 2013
Queries relating to the recording of the speeches of late Muhammad Ali Jinnah and such other prominent leaders of India who went over to Pakistan in 1947 denied u/s 8(1)(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; - it is the duty of the state to make such records available freely to the public so that the citizenry becomes informed – more than 60 years after India's independence, time has come when all concerned must decide what all information relating to the period prior to the independence should be made available to the general public - only two recordings of late Jinnah found in their archives and the other undated have since been referred to the Ministry of I&B and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to elicit their views which has been pending for over one year – CIC remanded the matter back to PIO to pass a speaking order explaining in some detail why such a view is being taken - the opinion of the MEA or Ministry of I&B, if any, should also be conveyed to the appellant.
Order
1. In his RTI application, the Appellant had raised a number of queries relating to the recording of the speeches of late Muhammad Ali Jinnah and such other prominent leaders of India who went over to Pakistan in 1947. Initially, the CPIO had informed him that the recordings were being searched from the archives of the All India Radio and that it might take some time. However, later, he informed him that the recordings could not be disclosed to him because, in the opinion of the CPIO, this would be covered under the exemption provisions contained in section 8(1)(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Appellant had appealed against this but the Appellate Authority decided to endorse the stand taken by the CPIO.
2. The issue here is whether the speeches of various leaders who went over to the newly created state of Pakistan recorded by the All India Radio at that time should now be disclosed in the public domain or not. More than 60 years after India's independence, time has come when all concerned must decide what all information relating to the period prior to the independence should be made available to the general public. This has become all the more necessary because of the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. This law has made it now mandatory for every information to be disclosed except a few which it exempts. It is easy for any public authority to take the stand that everything relating to Pakistan or the leaders who went over to Pakistan should be kept secret or confidential and invoke the provisions of section 8(1)(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; and not disclose the details. This will be a regressive stand. Students of history and members of the general public interested in knowing about this most important period of India's history would always like to have access to such valuable records. It is the duty of the state to make such records available freely to the public so that the citizenry becomes informed and the research scholars get valuable material. Keeping this in view, we would like to direct the All India Radio to undertake an exercise in the next six months to evaluate the recordings available in the archives and to publish, proactively, a list of all such recordings in their website for everyone to know. It should also undertake an exercise to identify all those recordings which can be freely made available to the public without having to invoke any of the exemption provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Needless to say, while doing this, care must be taken to ensure maximum disclosure, a period of 60 years having blunted many of the raw feelings of those days even if some of these recordings might contain such references.
3. As far as the present RTI application is concerned, we are told by the respondent that only two recordings of late Muhammad Ali Jinnah, found in their archives, one dated 3 June 1947 and the other undated, have since been referred to the Ministry I&B and Ministry of External Affairs to elicit their views on the contents of these recordings. Since almost a year has gone by since the date of the RTI application, it is high time that the authorities take a final view. Therefore, we now direct the CPIO to ensure that a final view is taken on the contents of those recordings and communicated to the Appellant within two months from the receipt of this order. In case it is decided not to disclose the contents, the CPIO shall pass a speaking order explaining in some detail why such a view is being taken. The opinion of the MEA or I and B, if any, should also be conveyed to the Appellant. However, if it is decided to disclose the recordings, the CPIO shall send the recordings in the form of a CD to the Appellant free of charge. The CPIO is also directed to send to the Appellant within 10 working days of receiving this order a copy of the communication received from any agency in Pakistan requesting for any such recording.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Mr. Subhash Chandra Agarawal v. Prasar Bharati, Transcription & Programme Exhange Service, All India Radio in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/001462