Exempting CBI from RTI could be 'counter-productive': Former CIC

NEW DELHI: Country's first chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opposing exemption of CBI from the ambit of the RTI Act saying it could be "counter productive" in the light of prevalent mood in the country against corruption.

Habibullah, now the Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities had said that CBI does not collect intelligence or performs security related duties and does not "fit" the criteria laid down for organisations, listed under second schedule of Section 24 of the RTI, which are exempted from disclosing information under the Act.

"Given the public mood around the country against corruption, exempting the CBI could be counter-productive. The same might be said for exempting others such as National Investigation Agency ( NIA) which also perform investigative functions," Habibullah had written to Prime Minister soon after Committee of Secretaries recommended exemption to CBI from the ambit of the RTI Act.

In a three page letter to the Prime Minister, Habibullah wrote that Standing Committee of Parliament on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, which vetted the RTI bill in 2004-05, observed in the Section 24 was intended "solely for agencies involved in duties relating to national security and maintenance of law and order."