Possession of disproportionate assets by a teacher

Background        

The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the CBI seeking information in respect of possession of disproportionate assets by a teacher of the government higher primary school of the State Government of Rajasthan. As the PIO of the CBI did not respond to the application, the appellant filed a complaint with the Central Information Commission (CIC).

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) noted that the allegation of possession of disproportionate assets by a teacher of the State Government of Rajasthan was beyond the jurisdiction of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since the complaint/ allegation is against a State Government employee. The Commission also observed that 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: of the RTI Act, the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act would not normally apply to the CBI after June, 2011, except in cases involving information regarding allegations of corruption or human rights violations. The Commission summoned the PIO of CBI to explain why he had failed to respond to the complainant in time.

Citation: Mr. Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Central Bureau of Investigation in File No.CIC/SM/C/2011/001507