Information related to the Border Security Force (BSF) are beyond the purview of the RTI Act
15 Mar, 2012Background
The appellant sought details about the action taken report on his application reinstatement of his services on the recommendations of the Minority Commission from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Public Information Officer (PIO) of MHA informed the appellant that his application has been transferred to Directorate General of Border Security Force. On appeal, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) of MHA informed the appellant that the information sought by him is not available in the Ministry and hence his query has been forwarded to BSF for the proper disposal.
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During the hearing, the respondent submitted that the BSF is an organization listed at S. No 9 of the Second Schedule and is exempted from application of the RTI Act, 2005, except in cases involving allegation of Corruption and Human Right Violations. The Commission noted that there is nothing to show that the PIO of BSF has provided any reply to the appellant to his RTI application. Accordingly, the Commission directed the PIO of BSF to provide requisite reply to the appellant under the provisions of the RTI Act.
Comments
Even the organisations which are beyond the purview of the RTI Act are expected to reply to the RTI applications and convey that the information other than those relating to corruption or human rights violation cannot be provided. It has been that the applications filed to the exempt organisations are filed without invoking the corruption or human rights angle resulting in their rejection.
Citation: Shri Saiyed Basit Ali v. Directorate General of BSF in file no. CIC/SS/A/2011/001759
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/149
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