Parole was denied to a prisoner - information regarding the report was denied claiming that CBI was included in second schedule – CIC: it is a matter of human rights of a prisoner and is covered under the proviso to section 24(1)
21 Sep, 2013Order
1. The Appellant is a prisoner. He had applied for parole. In this connection, he had wanted a number of information regarding the report furnished by the CBI in this regard. However, the CPIO had refused to provide any such information on the ground that the CBI was included in second schedule to the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Not satisfied with the reply of the CPIO, he had preferred an appeal. The Appellate Authority had endorsed the stand taken by the CPIO and disposed of the appeal.
2. The respondent reiterated the position taken by the CPIO and argued that the CBI was not obliged to provide this information for the above reason. We have carefully considered the contents of the RTI application. It is a fact that the Appellant is a prisoner in jail and had applied for parole. This is, for sure, a matter of human rights of a prisoner. His allegation seems to be that because of the failure of the CBI inspector in submitting his report, his parole has not been granted. In this background, the request for information seems to be covered under the proviso to 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: of the Right to Information (RTI) Act as per which the information pertaining to the allegations of human rights violations shall not be excluded. Therefore, we direct the CPIO to provide the desired information to the Appellant within 10 working days of receiving this order.
3. The appeal is disposed off accordingly.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Sh. Mohan Lal Walia v. Central Bureau of Investigation in File No.CIC/SM/A/2013/000316