ThiruvananThapuram: A report by the Government Designated Committee to ascertain whether the contents of the audit report by the Comptroller and General Auditor (CAG) leaked to the media before being submitted in the Assembly have said that the possibility of accidental leaks by people in the Department of Houses or the Department of Channels cannot be ruled out.
Based on a report of the former Special Secretary to the Government R Rajarketanan Nair, the government has issued orders that register several steps to “prevent the leak, accidentally or intentionally, from official information, document theft”.
The government has made it mandatory for all RUMAH department officers and the lines to follow the best practices of religiously based on the “Information Security Security Practice” issued by the Cyber Security Division and information from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The head of the department has been asked to change the connecting officer who knows the secrets of documents and confidential information after every three years, to reduce the scope of accessibility without limits to the source.
The government has also instructed that the practice of transporting physical files and documents from the secretariat and office to a higher official office in the secretariat through connecting officers must be carried out by reducing the risk of information leakage.
Furthermore, the government has said that the secret document and information from the department head is transferred through a connecting officer must be secured using a double closed cover.
Important communication must be sent via email.
The command has said that the officers found responsible for leaking documents, information or official data, will be responsible for disciplinary actions as stipulated in the rules of Civil Service Kerala (classification, control and appeal), 1960.
The Line Department related to the House Department includes Police Department, Fire and Rescue Services, Prison and Correctional Services, Directorate of Prosecution Laboratory and Chemical Examiners.
This problem comes from February 2020, when some critical contents of the CAG audit report on Purchases in PoliceHad allegedly leaked before being submitted in the assembly.
The report has criticized the State Police Chief Loknath Behera too.
Furthermore, UDF’s opposition also raised this problem, raising some of the accusations similar to the quoted in the CAG report, where the ruler’s front had answered that the report was leaked.
The government includes steps to plug in information leakage
