CIC asks whether CBI is above the law

This is precisely what the Central Information Commission has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation, while imposing a penalty of Rs 7,000 on a senior CBI official for not providing the information sought under the Right To Information Act. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 8, 2011, 18:11:50 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Are the government agencies above law while citizens are expected it?

This is precisely what the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation, while imposing a penalty of Rs 7,000 on a senior CBI official for not providing the information sought under the Right To Information Act.

An RTI applicant had sought information on CBI closing the case of alleged bank fraud against NRI millionaire Sant Singh Chatwal but the agency refused to provide information saying the information was vital for other pending cases against Chatwal.

The CIC had earlier directed the agency to provide information but the CBI decided to file a petition in Delhi high court seeking a stay against the commission’s order.

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said a decision to file a petition was not a valid reason under the RTI Act to deny information and drew an analogy between CBI’s consistent refusal and not allowing protest at Jantar Mantar and Ramlila grounds where prohibitory orders were invoked.

"Given that the CBI is the premier investigation and law enforcement agency of the country, it is certainly expected of its officers to behave responsibly and abide by the mandate laid down by the Supreme Court. This may be contrasted to a situation when an order is promulgated under section 144 of the IPC prohibiting citizens from demonstrating at Jantar Mantar or Ramlila grounds. In such a situation the citizens are expected to abide by this and bear the consequences, if they fail to do so," Gandhi said in his order.

This is third CIC order against the CBI since the Central government has exempted the agency from the RTI Act invoking protest from activists. The CIC has already made it clear that the agency will have to provide information on RTI applications filed prior to the government’s notification exempting the agency. CBI is reluctant.

CBI sources said the agency will be moving High Court against the CIC orders.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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