Economic Times: New Delhi: Monday, April 13, 2015.
To check leak
of key information, the Commerce Ministry has asked its officers to clamp down
on unauthorised persons loitering around their departments and also keep a track
on personnel carrying the files from sections to officers.
Besides, the
ministry has decided to be prudent while "liberally supplying the
information" under RTI Act and deny the access in cases like bilateral
trade, prosecution or litigation and "trade secrets" of exporters and
importers, sources said.
The matter
was discussed in a meeting Chaired by Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher recently
in the ministry.
The Secretary
has asked the Directors and Deputy Secretary's to visit their section offices, where
all the files originate, at least once a day to ensure that no authorised
persons are loitering in the sections or seeking to gather information from the
sections.
Further, it
has been asked to occasionally track personnel who carry files from sections to
officers in order to make sure that that no unauthorised photo copies and
transmission of information is taking place, while in transit, they said.
The move
follows a major crackdown on the alleged leak of classified official documents
at the behest of corporates.
Cracking down
on a suspected case of corporate espionage, Delhi Police had arrested at least 12
persons, including two Ministry officials and some middlemen, in connection
with the alleged leak of classified government documents to private sector
companies for money.
The
Directorate General of Foreign Trade, an arm of the ministry, had also issued a
communication that Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) should be
careful while providing information related with matters where the country's economic
interest is involved.
The Secretary
has also advised the Additional and Joint Secretary level officers to
periodically review the working of their CPIOs to see the kind of information
sought from them.
He has directed for a quarterly review of the working of
CPIOs so that without affecting transparency, the right processes and
procedures were being followed in disclosing the information.
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