Delhi HC Directs CIC to Reconsider the Plea on Including CA in CBI’s Undesirable Contact Men List:

Delhi HC Directs CIC to Reconsider the Plea on Including CA in CBI’s Undesirable Contact Men List The Delhi High Court has recently ordered the Central Information Commission (CIC) to review the case of a Chartered Accountant (CA) who was refused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The information was about the inclusion of the Chartered Accountant’s name in the CBI’s list of Undesirable Contact Men (UCM). Justice Sachin Datta disagreed with the CBI’s claim that it didn’t have to share information because the government had exempted it from the RTI Act. The Court noticed that Section 24(1) does not allow intelligence and security organisations, including CBI, as per schedule II of the RTI Act, to purview of the enactment. However, there is one exclusion in this Section: disclosure of information related to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations is allowed. The Bench noted that adding the name of the CA to the UCM list could have violated his human rights The CA had filed an application under the RTI Act in 2016 asking for the information whether his name is included in the CBI's UCM list. But his request was denied by CBI. The decision of the CBI was supported by the CIC in 2017, which led to the current case in the High Court. Before the Court, the CA argued that the list, which had his name, had damaged his reputation in society, which had harmed his dignity and professional standing. CBI accepted that it updates the UCM list on a regular basis. Along with this, it also accepted that a newspaper clipping, which had the names of some people as UCM, was uploaded on their official website, giving it an official appearance. It was also found that this matter was neither raised nor considered by the appellate authority. Therefore, the Court has sent this case back to CIC for review. Refer to the official order for more information.