Govt to revisit process of classification of documents

A three-member committee of bureaucrats today decided to revisit the existing instructions for classifications of government documents, amidst growing chorus for declassification of all files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
The panel, comprising Secretaries of Home, Law and Personnel, also decided to throughly examine the earlier suggestions regarding the need to amend the Official Secrets Act.
The committee, which was constituted yesterday, in its first meeting decided to have a fresh look at the existing instructions on classifications of government documents, official sources said.
The panel decided to involve officers of security and intelligence agencies in its future deliberations.

The committee was set up yesterday to go into implications of the Official Secrets Act in view of the RTI law.
Sources said the committee may suggest upgrading the authorisation for classification of documents from under secretary level officer to joint secretary level officer in the government.

Sources said the committee favoured a thorough review on the declassification process.
The government's move to set up the committee came amidst growing demands for declassification of nearly 90 files relating to Bose which are yet to be made public.
A grandnephew of Netaji Bose, Surya Kumar Bose, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Berlin on Tuesday and requested him to declassify all files related to events since his death or disappearance in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.