Exemption Of Vigilance From RTI Purview Challenged In High Court

Cuttack: A case has been filed in Orissa High Court on Wednesday challenging the Odisha government’s notification for exempting the Vigilance Department from the purview of Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005.

Human rights activists Subash Mohapatra on Wednesday filed a case in the High Court.

In his petition, Mohapatra said the government has no authority to issue such notification under sub-section (4) of Section 24 of the RTI Act.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (4) of Section 24 of the RTI Act, the state government do hereby specify that nothing contained in the said Act shall apply to the General Administration (Vigilance) Department and its organization,” said the notification.

Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan, an outfit spearheading a movement for extensive use of RTI in the state, has threatened that they would meet Governor S.C. Jamir to seek his intervention to direct the state government to withdraw the decision.

They argued that the government has taken the malafide decision to protect the ministers, against whom the vigilance department is conducting the inquiry on corruption charges.