Appellant: Details of counter affidavit filed by BSF before the Guwahati HC in a writ petition was denied claiming that BSF is exempted organization u/s 24 - CIC: Information sought does not pertain to allegations of corruption & human rights violations
21 Mar, 2017ORDER
1. Shri Ajai Pratap Singh filed an application dated 23.02.2015 under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Directorate General, Border Security Force (BSF) seeking information/documents on five points pertaining to the counter affidavit filed by the BSF before the High Court of Guwahati in WP (C) 375 of 2012.
2. Shri Ajai Pratap Singh filed a second appeal dated 20.05.2015 before the Commission on the grounds that information has been incorrectly denied to him on the basis that BSF is an exempted organization under Section 24 of the RTI Act although his case pertains to violation of his human rights. Hence, the information sought should be provided to him.
Hearing:
3. The appellant Shri Ajai Pratap Singh was not present despite notice. The respondent Shri S.M.D. Dwivedi, Second-in-Command (2I/C), BSF was present in person.
4. The respondent submitted that the appellant was informed vide letter dated 13.04.2015 that BSF has been declared an exempt organization under Section 24(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: read with Second Schedule of the RTI Act, 2005. Further, the information sought by the appellant does not pertain to allegations of corruption and human rights violations. The provisions of the RTI Act are, therefore, not applicable in this matter. In view of this, the information sought cannot be provided to the appellant.
Decision:
5. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of the respondent and perusing the records, observes that in this case information has been sought from an organization to which the RTI Act does not apply as per Section 24(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: of the RTI Act. Further, the information sought does not pertain to allegations of corruption and human rights violations. Hence, information cannot be provided to the appellant.
6. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
7. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
(Sudhir Bhargava)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Ajai Pratap Singh v. Border Security Force in Decision No. CIC/SB/A/2016/001023 Dated 28.02.2017