Will the CBI let out its worst-kept secret? Its list of Undesirable Contact Men (UCM), people all Government officers are warned against signing contracts or socialising with, is in the news again—thanks to the Right to Information law.While the list is considered top secret and at present has 22 names on it (first reported in The Indian Express, Dec 25, 2005), Supreme Court lawyer P C Srivastava who claims his name was on the list from 1973 to 2002 wants to know what “undesirable activities” got him there.The CBI rejected his RTI appeal citing Section 8(1g) of the law that it can withhold information ‘‘disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes.’’Srivastava filed a second appeal before the Central Information Commission (CIC) which on May 15 sent a notice to CBI’s Joint Director asking him to argue its case on June 12.Says Srivastava, ‘‘Now it’s up to the Information Commission to get me the documents on the basis of which I have been declared a UCM.’’ He says he is not interested in knowing who gave the CBI inputs for declaring him UCM but wants to know why the agency branded him as such.The UCM list, updated every year, names “fixers or agents” under surveillance and is sent to only Secretary-level officers with detailed instructions on secrecy and how an ‘‘unobtrusive check’’ should be kept on movements of all all UCMs.
