India's Elite Cybersecurity Unit Is Now One Of 27 Intel, Security Agencies Excluded From RTI Act's Scope

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the national nodal agency responsible for addressing cyber security issues such as hacking and phishing, has been granted exemption by the government from the scope of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

On Thursday (23 November), the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) released a notification to this effect, Indian Express reported.

Under the authority provided by sub-section (2) of Section 24 of the RTI Act, the Centre has exercised its right to exclude CERT-In from the scope of this transparency law. By exercising this authority, the Centre has positioned CERT-In at number 27 in the Second Schedule of the RTI Act.

The Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) is a part of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Earlier in March, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, made it known to the Rajya Sabha that inter-departmental consultations were underway to discuss the possibility of exempting CERT-In from the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The Right to Information Act, 2005 is administered by the Department of Personnel and Training, which has apprised that a proposal of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for exemption of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) from the said Act by way of inclusion of CERT-In in the Second Schedule to the Act, was received and the procedure of inter-departmental consultation, including with the Ministry of Law and Justice was undertaken in respect of the same,” Chandrasekhar said in written reply to a question asked by BJD member Amar Patnaik.

The CERT-In has been incorporated into the Second Schedule of the RTI Act, joining the ranks of 26 other intelligence and security organisations that are already exempt from the Act's jurisdiction.

Certain organizations fall under an exemption from the law as per Section 24 of the RTI Act.

“Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Provided further that in the case of information sought for is in respect of allegations of violation of human rights, the information shall only be provided after the approval of the Central Information Commission, and notwithstanding anything contained in Section 7, such information shall be provided within forty-five days from the date of the receipt of request,” states Sub-section 1 of Section 24.

The Right to Information Act grants the Central Government the authority to modify the Second Schedule by adding or removing any intelligence or security organization it has established.

The Centre can amend the Second Schedule through a notification in the Official Gazette. However, every such notification shall be laid before each House of Parliament.

Similar powers have been given to the state government under Sub-section 4 of Section 24 of the RTI Act.