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Former Chief Information Commissioner A N Tiwari said the

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Press Trust of India
Section 24 must be read in accordance with definition of 'information' and the Right to Information given under the transparency law. According to RTI Act, 'information' is any material in any form held by or under the control of a public authority. He said the section says "the information (any material in any form held by or under the control of a public authority) pertaining to allegations of corruption does not come under exemptions given to security and intelligence agencies". Tiwari said when an information seeker applies for the information pertaining to alleged corruption, it can be disclosed. CBI has pleaded before the High Court that its primary job is to probe corruption cases and disclosing information about them would make the exemption given to agency infructuous. In his order, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra had clarified the point saying RTI Act neither makes distinction between the exempted organisations on the basis of the functions they perform nor between allegations of corruption on the basis whether it is made against the employees of the exempt organisation or others. RTI activist Subhash Agrawal cited a Madras High Court order in a case of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti- Corruption (an exempted organisation of Tamil Nadu Government similar to CBI) Vs R Karthikeyan and V Madhav where it ordered disclosure of information related to corruption.

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First Published: Feb 18 2013 | 3:15 PM IST

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