Allegations of corruption or human rights violation have to substantiated with evidence
9 Oct, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The appellant referred to some preliminary enquiry conducted by the CBI and sought the copies of the inquiry report and other related documents. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information on the ground that the CBI had been included in the second schedule to the RTI Act.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant argued that CBI was obliged to provide this information as per the proviso to section 24 of the RTI Act since this matter related to an allegation of corruption. He also submitted that the information sought related to the violation of his own human rights as the enquiry by the CBI had resulted in de-recognition of his institution which greatly affected the source of his livelihood and that of several others. The respondent submitted that the subject of the preliminary enquiry was not regarding any allegation of corruption but only about violation of some rules and procedures and the CBI had not deemed it necessary to file any first information report in the case and to conduct any further enquiry or institute any criminal prosecution.
View of CIC
The Commission agreed with the PIO and added that it was not the case of any allegation of corruption nor of any human rights violation, it was a simple case of a CBI enquiry into some allegations of violation and infringement of rules and procedures by the AICTE in recognizing an educational institution. The CIC further stated that CBI did not find any credible evidence of allegations of corruption in the case and so decided not to go ahead with any criminal investigation and prosecution. The Commission rejected the appeal observing that the desired information was not covered under the proviso to section 24 of the RTI Act.
Comment
Whenever proviso to section 24 is invoked, it is the responsibility of the appellant to substantiate the charges of corruption or human rights violation with evidence.
Citation: Mrs. Anita Arya v. Central Bureau of Investigation in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/000016 & CIC/SM/C/2012/000021
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/712
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission