The government has issued orders stipulating that all public sector units and autonomous institutions in the State should formulate a record retention schedule so that when information is sought under the Right to Information Act (RTI), replies such as file ‘missing’ or ‘not traceable’ are not given.
Such a reply would defeat the very purpose of the RTI Act.
Unless proved that the record was destroyed in accordance with the prescribed destruction/retention policy, it is deemed that record continues to be held by the public authority.
‘‘Claims of file missing or not traceable have no legality as it is not recognised as exception by RTI Act,’’ the government order said.
