Chennai: The Madras High Court on Monday stayed a
single bench order holding that the Directorate of Vigilance
and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) was not excluded from the purview
of RTI Act, when it pertains to allegations of corruption and
human rights violations against public servants.
Issuing the interim stay till March 19, the First Bench,
comprising Chief Justice H L Gokhale and Justice V Dhanapalan
issued notice to the Tamil Nadu Information Commissioner (SIC)
and two others on an appeal filed by the DVAC Central range,
challenging Justice K Chandru's January 12 last order.
In its appeal, DVAC submitted that the Judge ought to have
noted that the state government had issued a notification and
order on August 26, 2008 that the RTI Act would not apply to
the state vigilance commission and DVAC organisations. The
High Court had upheld the G.O. on March 30 last year.
DVAC said the Judge had failed to note that Sec(8)(R) of
the Act clearly stated that information impeding the process
of investigation or prosecution of offenders was exempt from
disclosure. Information sought separately by two persons on
some investigation by DVAC would affect the process and the
parties involved in criminal or departmental proceedings.
The two had sought information on the number of police
officials caught during DVAC raids, together with the list of
names, designations and their addresses. In February, in a
reply it was said the directorate was exempted from the
purview of the Act.
The applicants filed a complaint before SIC, which
directed DVAC to furnish the information. DVAC had moved the
High Court against SIC's order and the petition was dismissed
by Justice K Chandru.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 09, 2010, 00:06