New Delhi: The Union government’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has refused to disclose documentary records that exempt the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) from the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.The CERT is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur.The information was sought by RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak following a gazette notification on November 23, which stated that the second schedule of the RTI Act was amended to include the CERT.This implies that the CERT will be exempt from the provisions of the RTI Act except in cases where the information is sought in cases of allegations of corruption or human rights violations.In his RTI request, Nayak sought a copy of the cabinet note relating to the amendment of the second schedule of the RTI Act, the note put up for the consideration of the committee of secretaries containing the proposal relating to the said amendment, a copy of all documents relating to the inter-ministerial consultations held in relation to the said amendment proposal till date, along with all file notings and correspondence held in paper and electronic form in relation to the said amendment proposal.He also sought a copy of all official records demonstrating compliance with the recommendations of the DoPT committee headed by the then-joint secretary, Devesh Chaturvedi, in 2015 regarding the procedure for notifying new organisations under the second schedule of the RTI Act in relation to the aforementioned amendment.Nayak’s RTI request referred to the committee’s recommendations in 2015 that proper guidelines be adopted to ensure wide public consultation prior to any body being exempted from the RTI Act.The committee also recommended that prior to the government issuing a notification under Section 24(2) – which empowers it to amend the second schedule – the name of the proposed body, the details of its functioning and an explanation on how the government’s proposal responds to grounds set out under Section 24 should be publicly disclosed.A specified time-frame should be allowed for members of the public to raise objections to the proposal, the committee added.This would also be in line with the proactive disclosures required under Sections 4(c) and (d) of the RTI Act and the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy (PCLP) of the government.Further, notifications under Section 24 by the Union and state governments must comprehensively and explicitly specify how the organisation that is being exempted fits into the definition of “intelligence and security organisations”.In its reply on December 28, 2023, the DoPT said that “Section 24 of the RTI act provides that nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the second schedule of the RTI Act.”It continued: “The proposal of exemption of Indian Computer Emergency Response Team from the ambit of RTI Act has been dealt in File No. 1/3/2021-IR II which relates to amendment in second schedule to the RTI Act, 2005.”It also said that the information regarding CERT’s inclusion in the second schedule was of “secret nature.”“The information provided by the organisations concerned including Indian Computer Emergency Response Team for their inclusion in the second schedule is of secret nature and exempted under Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act i.e. information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence.“Further, information is also exempted under Section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act being record of deliberations of Secretaries and other officers and part of the Note for Committee of Secretaries which itself is Secret,” it said.It added that the 2015 committee recommendations were “not accepted by the government.”“Hence, compliance with the said recommendations does not arise.”Speaking to The Wire, Nayak said that the refusal to provide the documents is “intriguing.”“This refusal is simply intriguing because when the NDA government decided to include the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) under the excluded list, the CPIO gave me all the information including file noting and correspondence and the note put up to the committee of secretaries.“It looks like the Government is treating CERT-IN as more strategic to our security interests than the SFC, which looks after our strategic and defence assets including nuclear weapons.”
