The Orissa High Court has quashed the Odisha government’s notification keeping the state vigilance out of the ambit of the Right to Information Act. It has asked the state government to bring vigilance under the purview of the RTI.

In its order issued on Monday, the high court said “Under RTI, not obligatory for vigilance to share the information which touches upon sensitive and confidential activities. However, the government cannot deny information pertaining to the vigilance department involving allegations of corruption and human rights violations.” It has also maintained that the information that does not touch upon any of the sensitive and confidential activities undertaken by the vigilance department, cannot be withheld.

The court was hearing petitions challenging a 2016 order that kept the state vigilance out of RTI purview. The notification issued on August 11, 2016, by the state government maintained that, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section 4 of section 24 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the state government does hereby specify that nothing contained in the said Act shall apply to the general administration (vigilance) department and its organisation.”

The general administration department is the nodal agency for state vigilance.

Disposing of the petitions, the division bench comprising Chief Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice R.K. Pattanaik said: “The notification in so far as it prevents disclosure of information concerning the general administration (vigilance) department even when it pertains to allegations of corruptions and human rights violations would be contrary to the first proviso to section 24 (4) of the RTI Act, and by that yardstick, would be unsustainable in law.”

The court also directed the Odisha government to issue a notification clarifying on the matter within four weeks.