Exempt CBI from RTI Act,recommends Secys panel

Chandrasekhar cleared the controversial request by the CBI that it should be exempt from RTI Act.

Despite objections and words of caution from some members,the Committee of Secretaries CoS headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar yesterday cleared the controversial request by the CBI that it should be exempt from providing information under the Right to Information RTI Act.

The CoS also approved an earlier reccommendation to keep the National Investigation Agency NIA and National Intelligence Grid NATGRID outside the purview of the RTI Act.

During a detailed discussion on the CBIs request,a minority of members expressed the opinion that acceeding could be viewed as a government move to reduce transparency,sources said. There was a feeling that questions would be asked about the timing of the move when the CBI is occupied with several politically sensitive cases,including the 2G scam,a CoS member told The Sunday Express.

Somebody may challenge the exemption in the court, the member said.

The CoS recommendation to accept the CBIs request will now go to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,whose mind on the issue is not known yet,before it is placed before the Cabinet,sources said.

CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said the agency wanted to be exempt from RTI because of the sensitiveness of the cases it is handling and the pressure from a large number of requests for information.

The CBI director is all for transparency,but the agency wants to be exempted because of the cases that it is handling and filing of the large number of RTI applications about cases,which have national and international ramifications, Mishra said.

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A similar request by the CBI in 2008 had been turned down by the government.

As first reported by The Indian Express,Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati had opined that if the CBIs request was accepted,other government departments and investigative agencies could seek a similar exemption.

However,Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium had recommended earlier that the CBI should be exempted in the light of the complex and dangerous situations in which it works.

At the first meeting of the CoS which includes the secretaries of the ministries of home,law,legislative,personnel and legal affairs as members on April 25,many members had opposed the CBI demand.