Status of investigation of theft of idols from Jagannath Temple sought under RTI

Background        

The appellant filed an application under Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking the status of the case instituted by CBI in the matter of the theft of some idols from the Jagannath Temple. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information stating that the CBI was not obliged to disclose such information since it had already been included in the second schedule of the RTI Act by a Central Government notification.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the RTI application had been filed on the 1 June 2011. It predates the notification and, therefore, will not be affected by it. The Commission directed the PIO to provide the desired information to the appellant.

Comments

CBI has been included in the second schedule of the RTI Act by a Central Government notification which was issued in the month of June 2011. CBI cannot take the benefit of the notification and claim that it is an agency exempt from the purview of the RTI Act in cases of any RTI application filed with it before the date of that notification. For the earlier applications, the PIO of CBI should quote the appropriate exemption section under the RTI Act.

Citation: Mr. Siva Sankar Chaini v. Central Bureau of Investigation in File No. CIC/AD/A/2012/000874