This commission is of the view that disclosure of the requested “Minutes of the meeting held on 30-8-2021” is warranted by Section 7 (a) of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017, henceforth referred to as the Act, 2017. This commission also holds that the disclosure of “Evaluation list of the candidates finalized on 30-8-2021” is also warranted under the provisions of the Act, 2017.
The disclosure of ‘minutes of meetings’ and ‘noting on the file’ during the deliberative process is protected to ensure that outside influence does not create hindrances in the deliberative process.
However, once a public body has taken a final decision, as is the case in the instant appeal, noting on the files and minutes of the meetings cannot be treated as excluded records.