The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been virtually brought within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act after the Karnataka Information Commission found that procedures were not followed to exclude the department from the purview of the Act.
In August 2018, Lavakumar, retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, filed an RTI application seeking information about expenses incurred by officers during the investigation of a murder in Karwar in 2000. The CID dismissed the plea, responding that the organisation and the details sought were outside the purview of the RTI Act as per Section 24(4), which states that RTI is not applicable to intelligence and security organisations established by the State government.
After an appeal, Mr. Lavakumar approached the information commission, contending that the CID was not an intelligence or security organisation and that Section 24 also states that for exclusion under RTI, a notification should be placed before the State legislature. That has not been done in this case, he contended.
On May 20, a Bench headed by L. Krishnamurthy ruled that the notification to exclude the CID had not been placed before the State Assembly, and without ratification it would not hold. It further concurred that the CID was not an intelligence or security organisation. “The information sought does not pertain to the investigation or intelligence report. It pertains only to expenditures incurred...The CID should release the information within 30 days,” the judgment stated.
