NEW DELHI: With an aim to secure all government files—especially those involved in litigation in various courts—the government has asked ministries to get their old records digitised. The move comes after the Ministry of Coal was reprimanded last year by the apex court for missing records related to coal block allocation case.
There have been cases of crucial files and documents going missing in the ministries of coal and home. As many as 18 files went missing during the UPA’s tenure. CBI and the coal ministry had earlier agreed that certain documents relating to coal block allocation case were not traceable. In the home ministry too, papers related to Ishrat Jahan case had gone missing.
Earlier this week, Ministry of Coal informed the apex court that the work of digitisation was started in July and will be completed by end-September. “The ministry has taken it on itself to complete the work in a time-bound manner,” additional solicitor general Pinky Anand informed the bench.
The court had pointed out that the missing files could be the crucial records for certain cases being probed, and that if the ministry was unable to trace them, the CBI should register complaints. Following this, two preliminary inquiries were lodged.
The Central Vigilance Commission, which has been given the work of vetting investigation reports of the CBI, also stated that the coal ministry should improve maintenance of files. In April 2011, a litigant had approached the Delhi HC requesting directions to the Trade Mark Registry to hand over two files. The government claimed that the files were missing. The court audit revealed 44,000 missing files.
Gone Missing
18 coal scam allocation files
44,000 trademark files
Ishrat Jahan case files