Odisha order to exempt vigilance dept from RTI is ultra vires of Act: High court

The Odisha government took the vigilance department out of the purview of the RTI Act in August 2016 on the ground that RTI applications were being filed seeking details of people who face vigilance raids or their personal assets

Published on: Jun 20, 2022, 20:52:45 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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A 2016 Odisha government order placing the state vigilance department on the list of organisations excluded from the provisions of the Right to Information Act is ultra vires (beyond the state’s powers) the RTI Act, a two-judge bench of the Orissa high court ruled on Monday and gave the Odisha government four weeks to issue a fresh notification.

The the Centre also took the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) out of the purview of the RTI Act in 2011 by placing it in the Act’s second schedule (HT Illustration/File/Jayanto)

“If under the RTI Act disclosure is the norm, and non-disclosure the exception, then the notification seeks to take away what is provided by the RTI Act and is, therefore, ultra vires the RTI Act,” the bench of chief justice S Muralidhar and justice RK Patnaik said, delivering its verdict on three petitions that challenged the 2016 notification..

Nearly a decade after Parliament enacted the transparency law, the Odisha government in August 2016 took the vigilance department out of the purview of the RTI Act on the ground that RTI applications were being filed seeking details of people who face vigilance raids or their personal assets. The government reasoned that it was becoming difficult to provide such information since it hit the confidentiality of the case.

To be sure, the Centre also took the federal anti-corruption watchdog Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) out of the purview of the information law in 2011 by placing it in the Act’s second schedule. Section 24 of the Act empowers the government to notify intelligence and security organisations which are exempt from provisions of the law except where the request relates to corruption and human rights violations.

The Orissa high court ruling said the state government could not refuse to divulge information pertaining to corruption and human rights violations. “Information that does not touch upon any of the sensitive and confidential activities undertaken by the vigilance department, cannot be withheld,” the high court said

RTI activists led by Pradip Pradhan argued in the high court that the state government could only exempt “security and intelligence wings” and that the state vigilance department, which essentially dealt with corruption cases, did not fall in this category.

Even before the 2016 notification was issued, the Odisha vigilance department did reject many requests for information. Like in 2014 when a person sought information on the department’s annual expenditure for collecting information about the corrupt, he was told that “disclosure would give clues to the suspects involved in illegal activities and their modus operandi”.

Or when a person asked the vigilance directorate to show files of a corruption case related to a former state police chief after it closed its investigation, the request was rejected on the grounds that it will “endanger the life of the investigating officer”.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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