RAW exempted organization under RTI Act unless info sought relates to human rights or corruption issues: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently ruled that India's external intelligence agency RAW is an exempted organization under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, and unless the information sought by an RTI applicant relates to human rights or corruption issues, it is not liable to be disclosed.

The court was hearing an appeal by an RTI applicant namely Nisha Priya Bhatia challenging the order of October 30, 2017, by which the CIC had dismissed the appeal and held that she was not entitled to get the information sought. The RTI applicant had sought for disclosure of information on the residences of a former RAW chief during a certain period.

The applicant alleged that she received no reply from the CPIO. So, she filed an appeal to the First Appellate Authority, however, received no reply. Thereafter, a second appeal was preferred to the CIC.

It is the petitioner’s case that a letter dated May 8, 2017, was written by the Director of Estates to the Registrar of CIC requesting the closure of her RTI application.

Thereafter, the CIC through the impugned order stated that the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is covered by Section 24 as an exempt organization, and no case of human rights or corruption was made out in the present case to attract the exception.

Section 24 of the Right to Information Act provides that the said Act does not apply to the security and intelligence organizations specified in the Second Schedule of the Act. RAW is one of the organizations specified in the Second Schedule. However, the first proviso to Section 24 provides an exception to exemption provided in section 24 if the information sought pertains to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations

Justice Prathiba M. Singh refused to interfere with the CIC order denying to supply the information to the petitioner and observed that Section 24 of the Right to Information Act provides that it does not apply to the security and intelligence organizations specified in its Second Schedule and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is one of them.

While upholding the CIC's order the high court said, “In the present petition, the nature of the information sought, i.e., the residences where the subject person who was the head of RAW which is a security agency, would not be covered in the exemption".

"In view of the above discussion, the impugned order does not deserve to be interfered with. The Petition is accordingly, disposed of. All pending applications are also disposed of”, the court ordered.

Case Title: Nisha Priya Bhatia v. CPIO, Directorate of Estates, Ministry of Urban Development & Anr.

Statue: The Right to Information