MP Information Commissioner Directs Govt to Penalise Officials Responsible for Losing Records

Bhopal: In a relief to Right to Information (RTI) applicants in Madhya Pradesh denied access to public records on the pretext of them being lost or missing, state information commissioner Rahul Singh has directed the principal secretary of the general administration department (GAD) to get the Madhya Pradesh Public Records Act enacted as per the Centre’s Public Record Acts, 1993.

In a 10-page order on December 26, Singh directed the GAD to frame a Public Records Act and, meanwhile, devise guidelines on the lines of the Public Records Act, 1993, to regulate the management of documents.

The Act should have strong provisions to penalise officers responsible for missing or losing records, including five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000, the order says.

Stating that cases of vanishing and lost records should not be dealt with in a superficial manner, the order states: “The loss of documents may have a disastrous impact at times substantially jeopardising the lives and careers of affected individuals..”

Section 19 of the RTI Act, 2005, empowers the Commission to make necessary changes in the provisions of the management, administration and destruction of public records, the order further stated and instructed the GAD to file a compliance report with the Commission before January 23, 2023.

“As many as 66 years have passed since the establishment and constitution of Madhya Pradesh as a full-fledged state of India but it is really astounding that Madhya Pradesh still does not have its own Public Records Act for effective administration, management and maintenance of public records,” the order reads.

The order came after the State Information Commission was swamped with complaints of missing documents. It came to light that erring officials cannot be penalised for their negligence owing to the absence of a Public Records Act.

“Madhya Pradesh is the only state which doesn’t have any law to penalise officials for losing government documents. Using this loophole, officials often deny documents under the RTI Act which resurface when the Commission seeks missing FIRs of such documents,” Singh told Newsclick.

Referring to the recent complaints, Singh pointed out that an RTI applicant from Rewa was not only refused a caste certificate but officials also lost his RTI application.

Singh was surprised that no accountability had been fixed for the missing records in the past three years. Subsequently, he passed the order.  

Singh levied a penalty of Rs 58,000 on three subdivisional magistrates and also instructed Satna’s district collector to start an inquiry into missing records. 

In his order, Singh pointed out that the absence of any law for the management and administration of government records is the reason for officers having a callous approach to cases of loss, mismanagement and illegal destruction of documents. 

Currently, government employees responsible for the disappearance and mismanagement of records are punished as per the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services Rules, 1961. 

In another case, Singh said, an applicant was denied land records which led to the cancellation of his registry papers. Later, the court restored his ownership. “A person was about to lose his land just because officials lost the documents—and there is no law to hold such officials accountable,” he said.

Asking for a strong law for fixing accountability in cases of missing records, Singh highlighted that under the Public Records Act, 1993, any employee or government officer who is involved in the loss, mismanagement or illegal destruction of public records could be imprisoned for five years or fined Rs 10,000 or both.