The memorandum stated that under the RTI Act, only such information can be supplied which already exists and is held by the Public Authority or under the control of the Public ‘Authority; queries/ clarifications is outside the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005. File
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After displaying an official memorandum lifting restrictions on ties of government officials with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on its website for “public knowledge”, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said that the file noting related to the decision are “classified” and cannot be disclosed. The response was in reply to a Right to Information Act (RTI) application filed by a New Delhi resident.
On July 9, DoPT issued an order referring to earlier memoranda issued on November 30, 1966, July 25, 1970 and October 28, 1980 stating that instructions were reviewed, and it was decided to remove the mention of “Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (R.S.S.S)” from the impugned memoranda.
The memoranda pertained to “ban on participation in certain organisations like R.S.S., Jamat-e-Islami, Anand Marg and CPM(L) etc.”
DoPT amended the order following a direction by the Madhya Pradesh High Court while hearing a writ petition filed by Purushottam Gupta, a retired Central government employee who had approached the court in September 2023 against the ban. Mr. Gupta had challenged the constitutional validity and legality of various provisions of the Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules, 1964 which mentioned the ban against RSS.
The RTI applicant (name withheld on request) sought to know the “relevant noting” from the file where a decision has been taken with regard to participation of government servants in the activities of RSS.
Responding to the application, DoPT said on July 30, “DoP&T OM No.34013/1(s)/2016-Estt.(B) dated 09.07.2024 issued on the subject of ‘participation of the Government servants in the activities of RSSS’ is available on the website of this department www.dopt.gov.in > Notifications->Orders->Establishment-> Miscellaneous. File No. 34013/1(s)/2016-Estt. (B) is classified in nature, hence, cannot be disclosed.”
It further added that as per the RTI Act, 2005, “CPIO (Central Public Information Authority) is required to provide information as available with him in the form of O.M., Notifications, rules, regulations, orders, letters and circulars etc. Under the RTI Act, only such information can be supplied which already exists and is held by the Public Authority or held under the control of the Public ‘Authority. Queries/ clarifications interpretation of information is outside the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005. The instructions/ guidelines issued by DoP&T are applicable on Central Civil Services/ posts.”
The order was uploaded on the websites of DoPT and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on July 30.
On August 30, 115 former civil servants and members of the Constitutional Conduct Group released a statement to express profound concern about the implications for a secular democracy of the recent order of the Union government to lift the decades-old ban.
“Recognising that caste, religion and gender continue to be critical fractures in Indian society, we feel a deep disquiet about this government order that allows government servants, who are tasked with defending secular democracy and minority rights, to openly declare their allegiance to an organisation that is ideologically opposed to both of these,” the group said.
The import of this government directive is that from now on, a district magistrate, a police officer, a secretary to government, a professor, a teacher or a government doctor, can be openly a member of or participate in the activities of an organisation which rejects the pluralist, secular core of the Indian Constitution, it said.
Asking for the immediate withdrawal of the “egregious order”, the group said the order “if and when implemented, would engender the collapse of Sardar Patel’s steel frame, render religious and caste minorities even more vulnerable in times of communal and caste violence, and cause enormous detriment to the soul of the Constitution.”
