It is learnt that Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar, in a note sent earlier this week to S S Chattopadhyaya, Special Secretary to the Minister, has asked him not to go ahead with his Ministry's plans of putting up official files for public scrutiny by arguing that no Department can take such a decision in isolation and that uniform rules should apply to all Ministries.

The matter was also reportedly discussed at a meeting held yesterday evening in the Prime Minister's Office, which was attended, among others, by Jethmalani.

In his note, the Cabinet Secretary is learnt to have further directed the Department to put the guidelines issued in this direction on hold till a considered view was taken on showing files to the public.

Jethmalani had on Saturday followed up his promise of ensuring greater transparency in his Ministry by issuingguidelines for the perusal of files by the public for a fee. This was the first time in the country's history that such guidelines had been issued.

According to these guidelines, the people were given the right to go through any file relating to his Ministry, except those on which Cabinet notes were being prepared and where a decision was awaited.

It was observed in the guidelines that India ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world due to lack of transparency and that corruption could be eradicated only by granting the right to information and that there was no reason for secrecy in a Department like Urban Affairs and Employment where files were expected to be disposed of according to prescribed rules.