RTI ACT APPLIES TO AGENCIES LIKE ED, IF INFORMATION RELATES TO CORRUPTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION - DELHI HC

Recently, the Delhi High Court held that certain provisions of the Right to Information Act apply to the Enforcement Directorate if the information pertains to allegations of human rights violation or corruption.

The Bench of Justices Manmohan and Sudhir Kumar Jain were hearing an appeal filed by the ED against an order passed on December 7, 2018, by a single judge. The single judge refused to stay on the order of the CIC. The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed ED to submit documents related to the seniority list of divisional clerks. The CIC further directed ED to provide copies of the promotion of the respondent LDC along with copies of minutes and a copy of the rejection/promotion orders issued from time to time.

The Bench refused to stay on the order while issuing notice in ED's challenge. The CIC filed an SLP before the Top Court, which was disposed of directing the HC to decide the matter.

The HC bench agreed with ED's argument that being an intelligence organization, it should be exempted from RTI purview except when such information concerns human rights violation and corruption. The bench however did not agree with ED's argument that only such information that is provided by ED to the government regarding corruption and human rights violation should be provided.

The bench said "The expression Human Rights cannot be given a narrow meaning. Human Rights have been used for a variety of purposes such as resisting torture and arbitrary incarceration to determine the end of hunger. In fact, human rights are both transformative and progressive."

The Bench noted that the respondent was not seeking any information pertaining to any investigation carried out nationally or internationally. In view of the same, the bench directed the agency to provide documents as demanded under the Act.