In a significant ruling, the Orissa High Court on Monday issued a declaratory writ to the State Government that it cannot deny information under the RTI Act pertaining to the Vigilance department, which is the anti-corruption wing of the government functioning under the Home Department. By virtue of a notification issued on August 11, 2016 by the Information and Public Relations Department under Section 24 (4) of the RTI Act, the Vigilance department was denying all information to the RTI applicants. Adjudicating at least three PILs, which had challenged the impugned notification, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar said information involving allegations of corruption and human rights violations and other information that does not touch upon any of the sensitive and confidential activities undertaken by the Vigilance department cannot be denied to the RTI applicants. The court further directed that a clarification notification to this effect be issued by the Government within four weeks. Notably, the State Government in August 2016 issued the notification stating that nothing contained in the RTI Act shall apply to the General Administration (Vigilance) Department and its organisation. Since then, the Vigilance department was not entertaining any applications filed under the RTI Act on the ground that it was handling very, very sensitive matters and most of the activities of the department were confidential in nature, which were similar to that of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). SOURCE: DAILY PIONEER NEWS
Not a Member?Create Account