The
Hindu: New Delhi: Monday, 16 February 2015.
In an
apparent misinterpretation of the RTI Act, CBI has claimed before the Delhi
High Court that it can only share information pertaining to allegations of
corruption against its own officials and not the graft cases probed by it.
The
explanation not only goes against the preamble of the Act, which says that an
informed citizenry is vital to hold governments and their instrumentalities
accountable, but also contravenes Section 24 of RTI Act under which CBI has
been included in the list of exempted organisations by the previous UPA
government, which was facing serious corruption charges probed by the agency.
Recently, CBI
has even started returning RTI applications citing the exemption clause despite
clear orders from the CIC and its former director, A P Singh.
Section 24
says that nothing in the Act will apply to exempted organisations provided the
“information” sought by an application pertaining to allegations of corruption
is not excluded under it. The definition of “information” says it is “any
material in any form held by or under the control” of a public authority and,
as per the definition, it may not necessarily be about the organisation from
which the information was sought.
The agency,
while challenging the order of Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra
through a writ petition before Delhi High Court, apparently misconstrued the
clause which exempts it from the RTI Act by only highlighting the portion of it
which goes in its favour.
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