Report on Rohith Vemula's death is now a public document

The HRD ministry on Monday made it clear that the Justice (retd.) A K Roopanwal Commission report on the death of Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University has been tabled in both Houses of Parliament and hence it is a public document that can be accessed through RTI.

The ministry was responding to reports that it had rejected an RTI appeal for making public the commission's report on the death of Vemula.

Replying to an RTI query, the ministry had said that the file concerned was "under submission" and a copy of the report cannot be provided.

In a statement today, the ministry said, "The fact of the matter is the said response to an RTI query was given at a time when the report of the Commission of Inquiry constituted by the government had not been laid in Parliament."

It is a statutory requirement under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 to lay the report of the Commission on the Inquiry together with a memorandum of the action taken thereon, before each House of Parliament within six months of submission of the report by the Commission to the government, it said.

"The said report has since been laid in both the Houses of Parliament on December 15, 2016. Therefore, it is a public document and anyone applying now under RTI Act can be provided with a copy of the same," the HRD ministry said.