CIC asks CBI to provide reasons for tapping phones

A week after the government exempted the Central Bureau of Investigation from purview of the RTI law, the Central Information Commission directed the investigating agency to disclose proposals sent to Home Ministry seeking permission for tapping telephones.

A week after the government exempted the Central Bureau of Investigation from purview of the RTI law, the Central Information Commission directed the investigating agency to disclose proposals sent to Home Ministry seeking permission for tapping telephones.

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Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi allowed the agency to severe names and designations of the persons mentioned in these proposals before furnishing the information to an RTI applicant.

The case relates to an RTI application filed by one Dharambir Khattar seeking details of the proposals sent by the CBI to the MHA for its permission to intercept five phone numbers alleging "that accused had connections with government servants holding high positions including the judiciary".

The information was denied by the CBI citing exemption clauses of the RTI Act and relying on a previous decision of the transparency panel that orders of phone interception were themselves sensitive for national security, sovereignty and integrity and cannot, thus, cannot be disclosed.

The CBI had claimed that the accused, whose phones were tapped, had connections with senior government servants including judiciary and was indulging in undesirable practices.

Gandhi said the information should be given as he could not find anything which could be remotely connected with national security.