Govt not in favour of repealing Official Secrets Act

Govt does not favour a repeal of the Official Secrets Act of 1923 but is considering an amendment to an existing section.

Government has said it did not favour a repeal of the Official Secrets Act of 1923 but was considering an amendment to an existing section.

“The Government is of the view that the Official Secrets Act (OSA) is the only law that deals with spying and wrongful possession and communication of secret information and therefore, it should remain on the statute book,” Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Lok Sabha.

He said the Act was necessary for good governance as several things that are being done by the government, especially in the defence sector, are matters that need not be prematurely disclosed.

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“Premature disclosure of certain information may benefit foreign states or our enemies,” Patil said.

The Home Minister said the government was considering the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) to reformulate the existing section five of the OSA.

“It is difficult to give a time limit to carry out the amendments,” Patil said.

The ARC has also recommended that the existing section five of the OSA may be reformulated on the lines recommended by the Shourie Committee, he said.

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The ARC, in its report ‘Right to Information – Master Key to Good Governance’, has recommended that the OSA should be repealed and substituted by a chapter in the National Security Act, 1980 containing provisions relating to official secrets.