Chennai, Sep 10 (IANS): The Madras High Court Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the central government's notification exempting Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The PIL was filed by Vijayalakshmi Shanmugham an advocate.

"The court held that CBI is an intelligence and security agency handling many sensitivv cases," Manikandan Vathan Chettiar, the petitioner's counsel told IANS.

Dismissing the petition the court said collection of intelligence, investigation and trial are intertwined and several sensitive cases are registered on the basis of intelligence received.

The court held that disclosure of information would jeopardize the CBI's functioning in the future.

The CBI had submitted that being subject to RTI Act would deter its officers from recording their views in an independent manner.

According to CBI, the issue of exempting the agency from RTI Act was considered by the Committee of Secretaries and later notification exempting the agency was issued.

The court held that the notification was not ultra vires the RTI Act or violates the provisions of the Constitution.