KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday orally asked the CBI, being an agency which mainly investigates corruption cases, why it was hiding facts.A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice C N Ramachandran Nair and Justice P S Gopinathan asked this, while considering a petition filed by RTI activist D B Binu challenging the notification issued by the Central Government to keep the CBI and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) outside the purview of Right to Information (RTI) Act. The court adjourned the case to November 22 for detailed hearing.The NIA submitted that it was an agency dealing with national security issues therefore it cannot entertain applications under RTI Act. The petitioner challenged the legality of the notification issued by the Centre in the official gazette of India notifying the inclusion of Central Bureau of Investigation, and National Investigation Agency in the second schedule to RTI Act, 2005. The petitioner further submitted that these agencies established for the purpose of criminal investigations and prosecution cannot claim any immunity against the disclosure of information at their disposal. “The proposed move is a major setback to transparency efforts,” the petitioner argued. Sukumar Oommen, a retired IAS officer, has also filed a similar petition before the court. He alleged that he has been a victim of abuse of power by CBI and the exclusion of CBI from the purview of RTI Act is against public interest.
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