Political convenience shouldn’t guide exemptions from RTI

Attacking the inclusion of organisations like CBI in the list of entities exempted from the RTI Act, a two-member committee constituted by the CIC has said that such decisions to shield organisations from the 

transparency law should not be the result of “political convenience or other extraneous factors”.

CBI was not in the first list of exempted organisations as it was included only after RTI queries on Bofors, CWG scam, 2G scam started reaching it. The agency was probing major corruption cases during UPA tenure when it approached the government seeking exemption from the RTI Act.

The inclusion of CBI in the list of exempted organisations is the most debated as it primarily deals with corruption cases which are not covered in the protection given to organisations under Section 24 of the RTI Act.