Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah on Thursday said he was in favour of abrogation of Official Secrets Act of 1923 which has become an "anachronism".

"The Official Secrets Act needs to be abrogated," Habibullah said here at an interaction with Merchants' Chamber of Commerce.

He said the Act of 1923 was promulgated by a colonial government to shield itself from the people of India and also to hide malpractices and irregularities and with India becoming a democracy, there was no relevance for the law which has become an "anachronism.

Asked whether the Right to Information (RTI) Act was applicable to private sector, he said it was certainly so where public money was involved.

"It does apply to the private sector but not in its entirety," Habibullah said.

He said RTI was a powerfool tool for bringing in transparency and good governance.