Telangana ACB refuses to disclose corruption cases data under RTI

HYDERABAD: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Telangana has refused to provide data on corruption cases in the state under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

High Court Advocate K. Nishant Kumar, affiliated with the National Forum for Peoples Empowerment and Social Justice, requested this information from the ACB. He asked for data on the total number of registered corruption cases in the entire Telangana ACB from December 5, 2023, to March 18, 2024. He also requested the names, designations, and departments of employees involved in these cases and the amounts recovered in ACB raids across Telangana during the same period. Furthermore, he inquired about the number of accused convicted in ACB raids from August 14, 2014, to March 18, 2024, and the total number of raids conducted by the ACB from December 5, 2023, to March 18, 2024.

Despite the requested information being purely statistical and typically maintained by the ACB, the department declined to provide it. The reason for refusal was intriguing. ACB's Public Information Officer (RTI Act), P. Raghava Rao, stated, "The information requested is not available because it requires conducting research, analysing data, and creating records to respond to the request. Thus, the information cannot be furnished."

It's worth noting that the ACB Director General holds an annual press conference to share similar details to explain the department's performance. However, it's surprising that the ACB has refused to disclose comparable data for a specific period when requested by a citizen under the RTI Act.