UNION OF INDIA Vs. ADARSH SHARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondent before this Court, vide application dated 10.10.2009 sought the following information from CPIO of the Ministry of Home Affairs with respect to one Dr. Vijay Kumar Vyas:

(2.) The applications submitted by the respondent were transferred by CPIO of MHA to the Intelligence Bureau. The CPIO of Intelligence Bureau vide communication dated 29.12.2009, informed the respondent that in view of the provisions of Section 24(1) read with the Second Schedule to RTI Act, 2005, the said Bureau is exempt from providing any information. Being aggrieved from the said communication, the respondent preferred an appeal before the Appellate Authority. The appeal having been dismissed by the First Appellate Authority, the respondent approached the Central Information Commission by way of second appeal vide impugned order dated 20.07.2011. The Central Information Commission directed as under:-

(3.) As regards information sought by the respondent vide application dated 10.10.2009, the desired information could not have been provided by the petitioner in the absence of particulars as to when he left India, and vide which particular flight. The same would be the position with respect to the information sought vide second application dated 26.11.2009. However, vide application dated 09.12.2009, the respondent gave particulars such as passport number of Dr. Vijay Kumar Vyas, the date of departure from India, flight number as well as the destination for which he was alleged to have left. The Immigration Office at the Airport is a wing of Intelligence Bureau and every person going out of India is required to obtain immigration clearance before, he can board the flight. Therefore, in case Dr. Vijay Kumar Vyas left India on 10.10.2009 for Auckland on flight No. CX708, such an information can be available with the Immigration Office controlled by Intelligence Bureau. However, the difficulty in the matter is Intelligence Bureau is one of the organizations included in the Second Schedule appended to the Right to Information Act and its name appears at Serial No. 1 of the Schedule. Section 24 of the RTI Act to the extent it is relevant reads as under: