Can a document sought by the CO for the purpose of defence be denied?

7. Can a document sought by the CO for the purpose of defence be denied?
Any document sought by the CO for the purpose of defence, can be denied only on
either of the two grounds. Firstly if the IO is of the opinion that the document is not

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relevant to the case. In this case, the IO has to pass a reasoned order as prescribed
in the proviso to Rule 14(12) of the CCA Rules.
In addition to the above, authority in possession of the documents may deny the
production of documents for reasons to be recorded in writing that the production of
the said document is against public interest.
In this connection, para 3.5 of Chapter XI of the Vigilance Manual (1991 Ed) provides
as under:
3.5 Denial of access to documents which have a relevance to the case will
amount to violation of the reasonable opportunity mentioned in Article 311 (2)
of the Constitution. Access may not, therefore, be denied except on grounds
of relevancy or in the public interest or in the interest of the security of the
state. The question of relevancy has to be looked at from the point of view of
the Government servant and if there is any possible line of defense to which
the document may be in some way relevant, though the relevance is not clear
at the time when the Government servant makes the request, the request
should not be rejected. The power to deny access on the grounds of public
interest or security of State should be exercised only when there are
reasonable and sufficient grounds to believe that public interest or security of
the State will clearly suffer. Such occasions should be rare