Cleanliness is next to godliness: CIC plans mass file destruction

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission is on a cleanliness drive. After a decade of implementation of the Right to Information Act, it has initiated mass destruction of over 2 lakh case files.
Until now, the commission had not destroyed a single case file since the enactment of RTI Act in October 2005.

As per rules, CIC has to keep records of disposed cases for six months unless the case has been challenged in a court or public authority has not complied with an information commissioner's order. However, the Commission had not destroyed a single file for a decade, resulting in the filling of a huge hall inside CIC's office in old JNU complex with 2 lakh case files.

Newly-appointed chief information commissioner RK Mathur has now decided to start destruction of these files.

Special three-member teams of CIC officials have been formed to oversee the destruction drive. The files are destroyed after a certificate from an official that the case has been disposed and it has not been challenged in court.

Destruction of files has always been a controversial issue. The teams have also identified case files of landmark judgements by CIC.