In a move that may give a little more transparency to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Central Information Commission (CIC) has ordered CBI to disclose the details of preliminary enquiries into corruption complaints without filing any FIRs. The agency has to provide such details from 2014 to 2018.
The Commission agreed with the views of an RTI applicant that the CBI is not immune from disclosing records related to “allegations” of corruption and human rights violations.
Information Commissioner Divya Prakash Sinha said, “Such disclosure will strengthen the structure of this vital law enforcement arm of the government, per contra, the opacity will only add to casting aspersions on its working.”
In case of the FIRs, the CBI has to file a final report in the form of charge sheet or a closure report in a special court after the conclusion of the probe leaving it to the court whether to accept or reject the probe document.
