A key Indian cabinet committee is recommending that three law enforcement and intelligence agencies be exempted from the right to information law, Indian newspapers are reporting.
The move would exempt from RTI coverage the Central Bureau of Investigation, the National Investigation Agency and the National Intelligence Grid, according to the Hindustani Times and the Indian Express.
The request, which still awaits final approval, was made by a five-member committee of secretaries, headed by the Cabinet Secretary. The request will now go to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before it is placed before the Cabinet, sources said, according to the reports, which also indicated that a minority of ministers opposed the exemption.
CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said the agency wanted to be exempt from RTI because of the sensitiveness of the cases it is handling and the pressure from a large number of requests for information, according to the Indian Express.
“The CBI director is all for transparency, but the agency wants to be exempted because of the cases that it is handling and filing of the large number of RTI applications about cases, which have national and international ramifications,” Mishra said.
A similar request by the CBI in 2008 was turned down by the government.
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