As Appellant has sought access to old records, the disclosure of these records is warranted under Section 16 (1) (k) of the Act, 2017.
The disclosure of the requested records is of public importance on two counts. One, the 14 requested records will shed light on the factors that led to the formulation of the foreign policy of the nascent state. Two, as the requested records are mor than fifty years old, retrieval of these records would show how records are maintained by the Respondent and whether or not it needs to take remedial measures with regard to the proper maintenance of its records. Furthermore, the disclosure of the requested information will demonstrate as to what mechanism the Respondent has put in place for archiving of the records as well as d-classification of old records under the provisions of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017 as required under its Section 16 (1) (k).
This commission holds that certain portions of these old records may contain sensitive information/records. There is a possibility that the disclosure of these portions may lead to a situation, where on the balance, harm may still outweigh public interest. However, it does not mean that any record can be exempted from disclosure in its entirety.
The Act, 2017 envisages a situation wherein a document, which should be otherwise be made public but its parts may contain exempted information. In such an eventuality, part(s) containing information to be exempted can be severed, or, blanked out from the document as mentioned in Section 16 (1) (i) of the Act, 2017. However, in such a scenario, specific reasons will have to be recorded justifying the withholding from disclosure which will be adjudicated upon by this commission.