2013 (1) TMI 189 - Commission - Indian Laws

CBI CPIO ordered to disclose info on assets, corruption cases promptly

The Central Information Commission directed the CBI CPIO to provide available information on disproportionate assets cases, sanctions sought under the ... Appellant through RTI - Wanted to know - About all the cases registered by the CBI since 1980 against public servants for possessing assets disproportionate to their known source of income - the sanctions sought by the CBI for prosecuting public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act - Held that:- we direct the CPIO of the CBI to provide to the Appellant within 10 working days of receiving this order all the available information across its various offices on the disproportionate assets cases for the period for which such data is centrally available. The CPIO is also directed to provide similar information, as available centrally, on all cases of sanctions sought against public servants for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the details of all cases registered under that Act against public servants till date. Issues:Request for information on CBI cases since 1980 against public servants for disproportionate assets, sanctions sought for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and cases registered under the same Act.Analysis:The Appellant had filed several RTI applications seeking detailed information on cases registered by the CBI since 1980 against public servants for possessing assets disproportionate to their known income, sanctions sought for prosecuting public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the number of cases registered against public servants under the same Act. The CPIO responded that providing such extensive information for a 30-year period would excessively strain CBI resources. The Appellate Authority upheld this decision.During the hearing, the respondent clarified that the requested information was not centrally maintained in the specific format desired by the Appellant. He explained that pre-computerization, data was manually stored, making retrieval for the specified period impractical without examining each case file. However, the respondent offered to share the available central database information with the Appellant, which the latter accepted.Consequently, the Central Information Commission directed the CBI CPIO to furnish, within 10 working days, all available information from its various offices on disproportionate assets cases for the period centrally accessible. Additionally, the CPIO was instructed to provide similar central data on sanctions sought under the Prevention of Corruption Act and cases registered against public servants under the Act, all provided free of charge. The appeal was resolved accordingly, with free copies of the order distributed to both parties.