RTI trumps Official Secrets Act, says SC

Why in news?

• An all-out effort by the government to claim privilege and push the Rafale jets’ pricing details to keep as a secret met an ironic fate by the SC.
• Justice Joseph, one of the three judges on the Bench, asked the government to read out Sections of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

Important RTI sections recalled: –

• The judge said the information law has revolutionised governance and overpowered notions of secrecy protected under the Official Secrets Act, 1923.
• Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal was first made to read out Section 22 of the RTI Act, which declared the RTI to have an “overriding effect” over OSA.
• Then Section 24, which mandates even security and intelligence organisations to disclose information on corruption and human rights violations.
• Finally, Section 8(2), which compels the government to disclose information “if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to protected interests”.

Background and stolen documents: –

• The government wants the court to refrain from examining the documents, which have already been published in the media on the purchase of the Rafale fighter aircraft.
• It claimed the documents were unauthorisedly photocopied from the originals kept in the Ministry of Defence and sneaked into the public domain.
• The Bench heard the case for an hour and reserved its orders on two preliminary issues — the admissibility of “stolen” documents as evidence and the claim of privilege rose on them by the government.

(SC & Judiciary)

Pic courtesy:The Hindu