In an unequal and elitist society where public officials wield enormous powers, the OSA has engendered a climate of secrecy wherein confidentiality becomes the norm and disclosure the exception. Section 5 of the OSA was intended to deal with potential breaches of national security but the clumsy wording of the section has converted it into an omnibus provision reducing practically every official data and transaction into a confidential matter. This tendency was accentuated by the Civil Service Conduct Rules 1964, which prohibit communication of an official document to anyone without authorisation.

The RTI Act has a clause: “Sec. 8(2): Notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 nor any of the exemptions permissible in accordance with sub-section (1), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests.” This provision overrides the OSA and allows disclosure of information even where there is a clash with the exemption provisions of Sec. 8(1) of the RTI Act. In other words, the OSA would not come in the way of disclosure of information if it is otherwise permissible under the RTI Act. Nonetheless, the OSA along with other rules and instructions still creates a climate of secrecy and paranoia in respect of all official matters even where these may have nothing to do with national security, which is the rationale for the OSA.

Section 5 of the OSA lays down that any person having information about a prohibited place, or such information which may help an enemy state, or which has been entrusted to him in confidence, or which he has obtained owing to his official position, commits an offence if (s)he communicates it to an unauthorised person, uses it in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the state, retains it when (s)he has no right to do so, or fails to take reasonable care of such information. Any kind of information is covered by this section if it is classified as secret. The word ‘secret’ and the phrase ‘official secrets’ have not been defined in the act. Therefore, public servants have the discretion to classify anything as secret.

... contd.