Investigation report of helicopter crash and death of Reddy under RTI Act
22 May, 2012Background
The appellant sought for the copy of the investigation report of the helicopter crash that resulted in the death of Sri Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and four others. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the RTI Act claiming that the report had been submitted to the District Collector of Kurnool district. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) endorsed this decision observing that the information would be disclosed only after the acceptance of the report by the District Collector.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that neither the PIO nor the FAA had given reasons as to how the information attracts the provisions of section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the RTI Act. The Commission further noted that for the sake of transparency in respect of such a serious accident leading to the death of an important public personality, the desired information should be disclosed.
Citation: Shri Vijay v. Central Bureau of Investigation in File No.CIC/SM/A/2011/000856
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/307
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