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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NIA impleads in PIL against RTI exemption

NIA impleads in PIL against RTI exemption

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published Published on Sep 16, 2011   modified Modified on Sep 16, 2011

-The Times of India

 

Close on the heels of an application by Delhi Special Police Establishment, popularly known as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to add it as a party in the petition pending before the Kerala High Court challenging the exemption of central investigation agencies from the purview of Right to Information Act, 2005, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also approached the court to make it a party. When CBI approached the court to add it as a party, the counsel for the petitioner, PK Ibrahim, had opposed the move by stating in the court that it is up to the government to decide which all investigative agencies should be exempted, and therefore CBI cannot be made a party.

However, the opposition was overruled by a division bench consisting of Chief Justice J Chelameswar and Justice PR Ramachandra Menon when the petition came up for admission. Taking advantage of the breathing space granted by the interim direction of the high court, NIA is following the CBI's move and has applied to the court for impleading in the case. With the likelihood of NIA also getting a chance to become a party in the case, the petitioners are changing their stance and are submitting an amended petition that challenges the entire second schedule of RTI, which is a list of 18 agencies exempted by the central government from the purview of RTI.

The PIL questions the exemption of CBI and NIA as they are not intelligence or security organisations but only investigative agencies. According to RTI Act, investigation agencies can withhold information if it impedes the probe, whereas Section 24 grants immunity to intelligence and security organisations. Therefore, there is no need to exempt an investigation agency specifically, the PIL points out. Further, the petitioner alleges that the agencies exempted are being granted an iron curtain to hide the political and other interferences in their operations.

By exempting these agencies from RTI Act, the government intends to foreclose the right to information of a citizen, the PIL states.

The major agencies that are exempted by the government are CBI, NIA, Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Directorate of Enforcement that investigates money laundering, Narcotics Control Bureau, Sashastra Seema Bal (Special Service Bureau) that is in charge of resistance training among population near the borders; and Aviation Research Centre that carries out aerial surveillance mainly along the nation's borders. In addition to these agencies, those exempted by the central government are six special police units that guard the borders, special branch's crime investigation wing in Andaman and Nicobar, crime branch crime investigation department of Dadra and Nagar Haveli; and special branch of Lakshadweep police.

The Times of India, 16 September, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/NIA-impleads-in-PIL-against-RTI-exemption/articleshow/10000603.cms


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