The Government is examining the Official Secrets Act (OSA), which was used against ex-RAW official Major General V K Singh (retired), following a recommendation from the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) to repeal it. However, the Union Home Ministry is learnt to be opposed to the idea, as it is the only comprehensive law that criminalises spying. The Act, according to the Ministry, is needed to ensure national security.The Commission had suggested to do away with the OSA since it interfered with transparency and the Right to Information. The Government is waiting for a formal response from the Home Ministry before taking a decision on the recommendation, official sources said.In its first report submitted to the Government in June last year, the Commission headed by Veerappa Moily had proposed that the Act be done away with as it was against the spirit of transparency in governance. “The most contentious issue in the implementation of the Right to Information Act relates to official secrets,” the second Administrative Reforms Commission said in its report on right to information as a key to good governance.The report had taken a close and critical look at Section 5 of the Act, which it described as a “catch-all” legal provision that converted practically every issue of governance into a confidential matter. The provision deals with wrongful communication of information. This, incidentally, is the same provision that the Government invoked when the CBI proceeded against Singh.Maintaining that the Act framed in 1923 was a legacy of the colonial regime, the Commission suggested a new chapter in the National Security Act to deal with official secrets. This could incorporate relevant provisions to safeguard the security of the state. The idea was to reconcile the need for transparency with the imperatives of national security “without in any way compromising the latter”.The Commission had also referred to a report by the HD Shourie Committee on Right to Information and Transparency. The Committee had called for amending Section 5 of the Act so that penal provisions would be applicable only to violations affecting national security. The Home Ministry, however, told the Commission that there was no need to amend the OSA since the RTI Act was overriding in nature.
