Information regarding the land which was in possession of BSF was sought under RTI
31 Oct, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Border Security Force (BSF) seeking information pertaining to a land which was in the possession and control of the BSF for the last 40-50 years. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed that since the appellant had not provided Khasara numbers etc. of the said land it was not possible to provide information to her queries. The PIO also informed that the information sought by her is not available with them and the appellant was requested to approach the Revenue Department in this regard.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC) the respondent submitted that the information sought by the appellant was very vague and did not contain specification in regard to the land. The BSF is an exempted security organization listed in the second schedule of the RTI Act and therefore not amenable to any provisions of the RTI Act by virtue of section 24 of the Act and the information sought did not pertain to allegations of corruption or human rights violation
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the BSF is an exempted organization listed under Schedule II of the RTI Act and therefore, is not amenable to any provision contained in the RTI Act by virtue of Section 24 of the RTI Act. The Commission rejected the appeal stating that the information sought by the appellant does not pertain to any violation of human rights and allegation of corruption, therefore, does not fall under Proviso (I) to section 24 of the RTI Act.
Citation: Ms. Anita Gupta v. Border Security Force in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001250
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/763
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission