Section 8 of Right to Information Act says -
[1] Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, -
a) Information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence;
b) Information, has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute the contempt of court;
c) Information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of parliament or state Legislation;
d) Information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of the third party, by the disclosure of the commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property unless the competent authority is satisfied that lager public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
e) Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that lager public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
f) Information, received in confidence from any foreign Government;
g) Information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes;
h) Information, which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of the offenders;
i) Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the council of ministers, Secretaries and other officers: (i) Provided that the decisions of the Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over; (ii) Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed;
j) Information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public information Officer or appellate authority as the case maybe is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information:
Provided that the information not denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person.
[2] Notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923) nor any of the exemptions permissible in the accordance with the sub-section (1), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interest.
[3] Subject to the provisions of clauses (a), (c) and (i), any information relating to any event, occurrence or matter which has taken place, occurred or happened twenty years before the date on which any request is made under section 6 shall be provided to any person making a request under that section:
Provided that where any question arises as to the date from which the said period of twenty years has to be computed, the decision of the Central Government shall be final as the subject to the usual appeals provided for in this Act.
The organizations, exempted under Right to Information Act. -
Section 24 of the RTI Act says,
“(1) nothing containing in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organizations specified in the second schedule, being organizations established by the central government or any information furnished by such organizations to the Government:
Providing that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human right violations shall not be excluded under this sub section:
Provided further that in 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 receipt of request.”
Under the second schedule of the RTI Act, following 25 organizations are exempted:
1) Intelligence Bureau.
2) Research and Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat.
3) Directorate of Intelligence Bureau.
4) Central Economic Intelligence Bureau.
5) Directorate of Enforcement.
6) Narcotics Control Bureau.
7) Aviation Research Centre.
8) Special Frontier Force.
9) Border Security Force.
10) Central Reserve Police Force.
11) Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
12) Central Industrial Security Force.
13) National Security Guards.
14) Assam Rifles.
15) Sashastra Seema Bal.
16) Directorate of Income-Tax (Investigation).
17) National technical Research Organization.
18) Financial Intelligence Unit, India.
19) Special Protection Group.
20) Defense Research and Development Organization.
21) Border Road Development Board.
22) National Security Council Secretariat.
23) Central Bureau of Investigation.
24) National Investigation Agency.
25) National Intelligence Grid.