NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate is exempted from the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Delhi High Court observed on Wednesday. The High Court, however, said that the probe agency can be directed to supply information concerning human rights violations, which includes allegations of sexual harassment.
The court made the observation while hearing two pleas filed by the Enforcement Directorate, challenging two orders of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that sought disclosure of certain information to RTI applicants.
One applicant had sought information related to recruitment rules, while the other wanted information pertaining to allegations of sexual harassment made by her. Justice Prathiba M Singh set aside the CIC order, but directed the Enforcement Directorate to disclose within eight weeks the information sought by the RTI applicant in the second case. She was a legal advisor to the probe agency.
“The ED is exempted under Section 24 of the RTI Act, 2005 from disclosing the said information on recruitment rules. Accordingly, the impugned order dated November 27, 2019 passed by the CIC is set aside,” the court order said.
“Insofar as W.P.(C) 5588/2019 is concerned, in the opinion of this Court, the information sought in the RTI Application relates to an allegation of sexual harassment by the RTI applicant/ respondent. In this case, the non-disclosure of information of allegations of sexual harassment, in the opinion of this court, would fall clearly within the conspectus of human rights violations, as exempted by the proviso to Section 24 of the RTI Act, 2005,” it said.
About the information sought on recruitment rules, the court said it was “not a case that would involve any human rights violation and so is not exempted by the proviso”.