New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Centre`s response on two public interest lawsuits
challenging its notification exempting CBI and other key
agencies from the ambit of the Right To Information (RTI) Act.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice
Sanjiv Khanna sought the response by August 10, issuing
notices to the Centre, the Central Bureau of Investigation and
the National Investigation Agency. The notices were issued on
a petition filed by advocate Sitab Ali Chaudhary.
The court also issued notice to the Centre through the
Cabinet Secretary and the Ministry of Personnel on a similar
petition filed by advocate Ajay Agarwal alleging that the
Centre had brought the notification exempting CBI from the
purview of the RTI Act to prevent him from seeking documents
pertaining to the Bofors gun deal.
The bench sought a detailed affidavit on both the
petitions challenging the Centre`s June 9 notification
exempting the CBI and other agencies from the ambit of the RTI
Act and fixed the matter for final hearing on August 10.
Advocate Chaudhary had contended that "the Cabinet
decision on June 9, 2011 to exempt the CBI, the NIA and the
National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) from the purview
of RTI Act i.e. giving information on demand under the 2005
Act, is unconstitutional".
PTI
