CBI under RTI will risk national security

CHENNAI: Bringing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act will jeopardise its very functioning investigations and pose a threat to national security, the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in New Delhi said in its counter-affidavit filed in the Madras High Court on Wednesday.The counter was in response to a public interest writ petition from advocate S Vijayalakshmi to quash a notification dated June 9 this year, which exempted the CBI from the RTI Act.Central Government senior standing counsel Chandrasekaran stated that information with regard to modus operandi which were essential in an investigation, were very important and any disclosure of the same would seriously jeopardise the functioning of the CBI.  Hence, the Union government had rightly excluded the CBI, from the ambit of the Act under Section 24 of the Act.On behalf of the CBI, Additional Solicitor General M Ravindran and CBI senior counsel N Chandrasekaran filed a seperate counter-affidavit stating that the information could be obtained from its website. The first Bench comprising Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam reserved the orders on the PIL.