The Central Information Commission has directed the National Archives of India to place the index of records available to them on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on their official website along with the procedure to gain access to these.
The order comes after an appellant approached the Commission claiming he could not get two documents — final charge sheet issued by the Delhi Police and order of execution of Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse — despite inspecting the records and getting certified copies of many documents from NAI.
The NAI on its part made it clear to the applicant that its function was just to receive and protect records sent to it and could not express an opinion on other things.
“The Commission... directs the NAI to place the index of records available with them about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on their official website along with the procedure to gain access and recommends development of an archive to include present digitized records and collect as many as possible from various sources to be part of their disclosures under Section 4(1)(b),” says the copy of the order by Information Commissioner M. Sridhar Acharyulu.
“This will effectively reduce the number of the RTI applications of Gandhi assassination related issues. The aim of Section 4 is to encourage voluntary disclosures which will not create any necessity for citizens to file an RTI application.”
The Commission also directed the NAI to provide copies of documents at ₹2 per page, as the RTI Act overrides the Rules under the Public Records Act, 1993, under which the NAI collects ₹3 per page on the copying of documents.
In this case, the NAI had made it clear that any citizen could come and peruse the documents available with it.
