Shocking it may sound, but the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters in New Delhi has no information on when its lucknow office was set up and notified as a police station. The interesting fact emerged from a response given by CPIO, CBI Headquarters in New Delhi, RK Dutta to a query filed under Right to Information Act (RTI) by a social activist. As per a release, social activist Dr Nutan Thakur said that she sought information along with the copy of concerned files related with lucknow branch of CBI. She asked the New Delhi-based CBI headquarters to inform her as to when the CBI office in lucknow was set up and when was an order issued notifying it as a `police station’.
Dr Thakur claimed that in a reply received from CBI, RK Dutta replied that the subject matter of information does not fall within jurisdiction of CBI headquarters and hence it was being transferred to CBI, ACB office, lucknow.
“It is indeed strange that the CBI headquarters in New Delhi does not know when one of it’s branch was constituted and notified as a police station,” she opined. Meanwhile, the UP Government also refused to provide information sought by Dr Nutan Thakur as regards subsidy granted by Film Bandhu from 2012 to 2017. Press Information Officer (PIO) of Information Department, Section-2, Kaushalendra Vikram Singh said that the information being sought was too bulky and hence it cannot be provided under Rule 4 of the UP RTI Rules. Singh also denied providing information about appointment of Chairman, Vice Chairman etc of Film Bandhu, on the same grounds. “Information department is shying away from providing this information because it will bring to the fore improprieties in grant of film subsidies,” Dr Thakur said.