The
Hindu: Bengaluru: Saturday, June 01, 2019.
The
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been virtually brought within the
ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act after the Karnataka Information
Commission found that procedures were not followed to exclude the department
from the purview of the Act.
In
August 2018, Lavakumar, retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, filed an RTI
application seeking information about expenses incurred by officers during the
investigation of a murder in Karwar in 2000. The CID dismissed the plea,
responding that the organisation and the details sought were outside the
purview of the RTI Act as per Section 24(4), which states that RTI is not
applicable to intelligence and security organisations established by the State
government.
After
an appeal, Mr. Lavakumar approached the information commission, contending that
the CID was not an intelligence or security organisation and that Section 24
also states that for exclusion under RTI, a notification should be placed
before the State legislature. That has not been done in this case, he
contended.
On
May 20, a Bench headed by L. Krishnamurthy ruled that the notification to
exclude the CID had not been placed before the State Assembly, and without
ratification it would not hold. It further concurred that the CID was not an
intelligence or security organisation. “The information sought does not pertain
to the investigation or intelligence report. It pertains only to expenditures
incurred...The CID should release the information within 30 days,” the judgment
stated.
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