The Supreme Court on Thursday said file notings relating to alleged corruption or rights violations cannot be regarded as privileged document, and the government’s claim that certain Rafale-related documents were protected under the Official Secrets Act was prima facie not maintainable.
Justice K.M. Joseph, sitting on a bench with Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, told attorney-general K.K. Venugopal that the colonial-era Official Secrets Act had lost its “sanctity” after the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
“The RTI Act… has an overriding effect on the Official Secrets Act. In cases relating to corruption and human rights violations, public interests outweigh official secrets. Even sensitive organisations like defence, intelligence and others… have to disclose information,” he observed.
