Re: [HumJanenge] Emergency records not in PMO files, CIC wants it to be traced

I am surprised at this order of CIC and report in ToI. Please read the ToI write-ups which are reproduced below. As early as October 2010, I got all the records without the intervention of Information Commission. Now these documents are available for the public also at the National Archives.

 

M.G.Devasahayam

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

TIMES OF INDIA, New Delhi

 

Emergency papers found, minus Indira signature 
10 December 2010

Six Months After Pleading Ignorance, National Archives Comes Up With Relevant Records 
Manoj Mitta | TNN 

New Delhi: Six months after pleading ignorance about their whereabouts, the National Archives have come up with records of the infamous Emergency. Tell-tale gaps in the information though could well have been responsible for the delayed disclosure about a phase that the present rulers have much to be embarrassed about.

The original paperwork related to the proclamation of Emergency on June 25, 1975 and its draconian enforcement for 21 months has come into public domain thanks to the tenacity of RTI applicant M G Devasahayam, who had Jayaprakash Narayan in his custody for six months as the then deputy commissioner of Chandigarh.

Though his application was shunted from the Prime Ministers Office to the home ministry and then to the National Archives, what forced the authorities to give up their blocking tactics was Devasahayam's recourse to a complaint under RTI as that could have had penal consequences for those denying information.

The reams of documents given to Devasahayam betray extraordinary attempts to distance Indira Gandhi from much of the illegal decisions responsible for Emergency and its excesses. Though the signatures of other dramatis personae, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed downwards, are available on the Emergency records, there is none of Indira Gandhi herself in any of them.

The omission of Indira Gandhi's signature is most glaring in the file relating to the manner in which she had bypassed the Cabinet while asking Ahmed to sign the Emergency proclamation late in the night on June 25, 1975. While the original proclamation bearing Ahmed's signature is available, there is only a typed copy of the PM's top secret letter that had recommended imposition of Emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution.

According to the file, the copy of Indira Gandhi's historic letter was obtained by the home ministry from the Presidents Secretariat. The original letter signed by Indira Gandhi was probably taken out of the file at some point and kept away in her personal papers, which are in the control of her family.

Whatever the reason for the missing original, the file nails the claim made by Indira Gandhi in her letter that she had information suggesting that there is an imminent danger to the security of India being threatened by internal disturbance. The file does not contain a shred of material backing such threat perception on the fateful day.

In fact, the file reveals that the first assessment of the alleged threat of internal disturbance was made more than a fortnight after the imposition of Emergency. It was in the form of a report on the situation before and after June 25, 1975 from the Intelligence Bureau submitted on July 11.This shows that India's hard-fought democracy was suspended on the perception of one individual, without any institutional checks.

The file is a treasure trove for historians as it brings out, among other things, the manner in which the Cabinet gave post-facto approval to Emergency at a meeting held at 6am on June 26, 1975. It bears out the Shah Commissions finding that none of the Cabinet ministers was privy to the unprecedented decision to impose Emergency. Yet, the Cabinet and bureaucracy without demur facilitated the Emergency measures that followed quickly: imposition of press censorship and draconian amendments to preventive detention laws. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TIMES OF INDIA, CHENNAI

02-09-2010

 

NAI now says it has found some Emergency files
Jaya Menon | TNN
Chennai: Some documents pertaining to the proclamation of Emergency in 1975, which were earlier said to be missing, have suddenly resurfaced. Nearly three weeks after a report was published in TOI (August 8, 2010) about the mysterious disappearance of documents and records relating to the Emergency, the National Archives of India (NAI), a repository of non-current records of the government of India, said it had located a few files received from the ministry of home affairs some time ago.

Keeping in view the public concern, the records division of the department had conducted fresh extensive search among the holdings and have been able to locate a few files on the subject which had been received from the ministry of home affairs some time back, said Rajesh Verma, assistant director of NAI and the chief principal information officer. Restoration of Emergency records underway (TOI) 02-09-2010 Chennai: Nearly three weeks after a report was published in TOI (August 8,2010) about the mysterious disappearance of documents and records relating to the Emergency period, the National Archives of India (NAI),a repository of non-current records of the government of India, said it had located a few files received from the ministry of home affairs some time ago. Owing to the sensitive nature of the documents, they had been classified and subsequently declassified by the MHA before appraisal and transfer to NAI and had been kept separately, in light of instructions from the ministry. Hence, they do not figure in the general list of files transferred to the home department and all the officers of the records division were not aware of their availability, Verma said in a letter to MG Devasahayam, whose RTI application seeking Emergency-related documents had drawn a blank. Devasahayam had sent an RTI application to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) on February 25, seeking information on the presidential proclamation on June 26, 1975, declaring a state of Emergency in the country that lasted up to March/April 1977.On March 4, the PMO replied saying it is transferring the queries, under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, to the MHA for appropriate action. The home ministry, which was the nodal ministry for enforcing the Emergency, claimed the information sought was more than 25 years old and hence not available with it. As per Rule 5 of the Public Records Rules, 1997, the relevant records and documents may be available in the NIA, home ministry officials said. On May 11, however, the NAI, in a letter to Devasahayam, said during a preliminary search, the requisite information sought could not be located among the record holdings available in the NAI since it has not been transferred to NAI. But on August 20, the NAI wrote to Devasahayam, referring to the report that appeared in TOI rather than his RTI application saying they were able to lay their hands on some files. Since the physical condition of the files is not good, we are taking steps to have them repaired by the preservation department before they are made accessible for consultation under the Public Record Act and Rules, Verma said in his letter. Devasahayam said, "I am surprised that the physical condition of the records with NAI is not good. I too have several communications and records of that period. But they are in a good condition, considering that they are just 30 years old. In his reply to NAI on August 30, Devasahayam sought to know if he could get the information he had asked for in his RTI application to the PMO and if he could have access to the files for inspection."

The Immediate Impact

 

The Author had obtained the papers in September 2010 and they were simultaneously put on the public domain by the National Archives of India. Provoked by this veteran Parliamentarian Era Sezhiyan dug out his archives, brought out the full Shah Commission Report and published the same. Here is a report:

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On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 10:09 PM, Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb@gmail.com> wrote:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Emergency-records-not-in-PMO-files-CIC-wants-it-to-be-traced/articleshow/11823474.cms

NEW DELHI: The records of correspondence between Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi and President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed relating to Emergency
proclamation in 1975 are not traceable in PMO files prompting a
direction by the Central Information Commission to locate and preserve
them.

The transparency panel also directed the competent authorities in the
Prime Minister's Office(PMO) to enquire into how the records of "an
important post-independence event" are not traceable in the PMO files.

In a reply to an RTI applicant, the PMO had claimed that despite its
best efforts, the communication relating to proclamation of Emergency
could not be traced in its records.

When the matter reached the Central Information Commission(CIC), the
PMO officials again reiterated the position stated in the RTI reply.

Although Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra did not
fault the concerned officials for the missing records, he said, "we
must observe that this is something surprising."

"The records relating to such an important event in the history of
post-independence India should be carefully preserved for future and
cannot be allowed to get lost in the labyrinth of government offices,"
Mishra said.

In his order, Mishra said, "we would like the competent authorities in
the PMO to enquire into this matter and to ensure that these records
are retrieved or traced, and should be preserved appropriately for the
citizens to access."