Allegations of corruption not exempted from RTI; CIC asks CBI Chief to sensitise staff

Emphasising that allegations of corruption are not covered in the exemption given to the CBI from the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission has advised the agency director to sensitise its RTI processing officers about the provision.

Information Commissioner Divya Prakash Sinha quoted an order of the Delhi High Court wherein the Intelligence Bureau was directed to provide information pertaining to allegations of corruption to an applicant.

Like the Intelligence Bureau, the Central Bureau of Investigation has also been listed in the list of organisations exempted from the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

However, this exemption does not extend to records held by the agency which pertain to allegations of corruption and human rights violations and they are subjected to provisions of the RTI Act.

Sinha was hearing a matter wherein an RTI applicant had sought to know status of his complaint alleging irregularities in the allotment of LPG distributorship by the officers of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in Jaipur.

Denying the information, the CBI cited exemption given to it by the central government and said that the provisions bringing information about allegations of corruption under the RTI Act was limited to allegations against its own officers and not every record pertaining to corruption held by it.

Rejecting the argument, Sinha said, "Commission observes that the reliance placed by CPIO on the earlier decisions of the coordinate benches to substantiate the view that CBI is only obliged to provide information relating to allegation of corruption against its own employees does not hold good."