The Times of India:Saturday,10 September, 2011.
CHENNAI: Ruling that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is a security and intelligence organization, the Madras high court has upheld the Union government's decision to exclude the agency from the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The central notification cocooning the CBI from the purview of the RTI Act was issued on June 9, 2011, prompting writ petitions in several high courts. On Friday, the Madras high court became the first in the country to decide the issue on merit.
Dismissing a public interest writ petition questioning the validity of the "blanket and wholesale exemption" given to the CBI, the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam said: "In our view, queries which would hamper or jeopardize the working of any intelligence and security agency should not be permitted and undoubtedly this was not the purport of the RTI Act. Any investigation by such an agency as the CBI handling sensitive and sensational cases involving internal security of the country and its financial stability, if allowed to be disclosed would be counter-productive and it will adversely affect the efficiency of the functioning of the organization itself."
Concurring with the submissions of additional solicitors-general of India M Ravindran and Gouravah Banerji, and senior central government standing counsel P Chandrasekaran and CBI special public prosecutor N Chandrasekaran, the first bench pointed out that no blanket or wholesale exemption had been extended to the central agency.
The judges said that as per the Section 24 of the Act, the CBI is still bound to provide information relating to corruption allegations and human rights violations.
"Therefore, the safeguard is in-built in the statute so as to ensure that the agencies are not totally excluded from the purview of the RTI Act," they said. The PIL, filed by advocate S Vijayalakshmi, contended that the RTI Act provided exemption only to intelligence and security agencies, whereas the CBI is only an investigating agency unworthy of blanket exemption. Her counsel, Manikandan Vathan Chettiar, had submitted that such exemptions would create chaos.
Rejecting the submissions, the judges noted that the CBI was dealing with many cases of larger public interest and disclosure of information would have a great impact not only within the country but also abroad. "In the light of the various sensitive cases being handled by the CBI, it cannot be denied that they have a direct bearing not only on the national security, but also the financial security of the country." As the CBI needs to adopt an intelligence-led approach, it is the intelligence agency of the government of India handling issues of national security, the bench concluded.
The central notification cocooning the CBI from the purview of the RTI Act was issued on June 9, 2011, prompting writ petitions in several high courts. On Friday, the Madras high court became the first in the country to decide the issue on merit.
Dismissing a public interest writ petition questioning the validity of the "blanket and wholesale exemption" given to the CBI, the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam said: "In our view, queries which would hamper or jeopardize the working of any intelligence and security agency should not be permitted and undoubtedly this was not the purport of the RTI Act. Any investigation by such an agency as the CBI handling sensitive and sensational cases involving internal security of the country and its financial stability, if allowed to be disclosed would be counter-productive and it will adversely affect the efficiency of the functioning of the organization itself."
Concurring with the submissions of additional solicitors-general of India M Ravindran and Gouravah Banerji, and senior central government standing counsel P Chandrasekaran and CBI special public prosecutor N Chandrasekaran, the first bench pointed out that no blanket or wholesale exemption had been extended to the central agency.
The judges said that as per the Section 24 of the Act, the CBI is still bound to provide information relating to corruption allegations and human rights violations.
"Therefore, the safeguard is in-built in the statute so as to ensure that the agencies are not totally excluded from the purview of the RTI Act," they said. The PIL, filed by advocate S Vijayalakshmi, contended that the RTI Act provided exemption only to intelligence and security agencies, whereas the CBI is only an investigating agency unworthy of blanket exemption. Her counsel, Manikandan Vathan Chettiar, had submitted that such exemptions would create chaos.
Rejecting the submissions, the judges noted that the CBI was dealing with many cases of larger public interest and disclosure of information would have a great impact not only within the country but also abroad. "In the light of the various sensitive cases being handled by the CBI, it cannot be denied that they have a direct bearing not only on the national security, but also the financial security of the country." As the CBI needs to adopt an intelligence-led approach, it is the intelligence agency of the government of India handling issues of national security, the bench concluded.
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