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The Tamil Nadu government revoked a notification that had exempted the Public (Law and Order) Department from the Right to Information (RTI) Act hours after issuing the Gazette notification for its exemption.
The original order had classified the department as an Intelligence and Security Organisation. That meant information on communal incidents, political agitations, police custody deaths, and other law-and-order matters could be publicly accessible through RTI applications. As the notification garnered significant backlash, it was revoked swiftly. Congress leader Karti P Chidambaram criticised the original move even as his party is a part of the TVK-led Secular Social Justice Victory alliance He said that the move "does not set a good precedent," recalling that the RTI Act was introduced by the UPA government to strengthen democratic accountability. "The Law and Order Department handles crucial matters such as examining inquiry reports on police firing, custodial deaths, torture, and deaths of remand prisoners, security-related detention cases, communal and caste clash reports, requests for withdrawal of politically sensitive cases and matters relating to sanction of prosecution for defamatory articles, news items, and speeches. This crucial information is now being shielded from the public. Such rollbacks are not in line with transparent governance. RTI must be expanded, not restricted," Karti Chidambaram posted on X. After the swift revocation, Chidambaram welcomed the move, adding, "My unsolicited & friendly advice to the TVK Government & CMO Tamil Nadu don't let bureaucrats set the tone, tenor & direction of the administration." BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan had also criticised the original decision. "So they are afraid of meeting the press, they are afraid of meeting the people, and they are afraid of the legal procedures. If you are free and fair, why are you afraid of RTI?" she said, calling the pattern "undemocratic" and urging it be "highly condemned." The Right to Information Act, 2005, was a law enacted by the Parliament giving citizens of India access to Government records. (ANI)
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