The High Court of Himachal Pradesh has stayed the Himachal Pradesh Government’s notification dated March 12 that excluded the State Vigilance & Anti Corruption Bureau from the ambit of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma observed prima facie that the notification appeared to be “without any authority of law” and in conflict with Section 24 of the RTI Act.
The Court noted that Section 24(4) of the RTI Act permits exemption only for “intelligence and security organisations” established by the state government. However, the State Vigilance & Anti Corruption Bureau was found to be a government department constituted for investigation of corruption, economic offences and offences under various statutes, including the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and IPC provisions, and not an intelligence or security organisation.
Rejecting the State’s reliance on Section 8(h) of the RTI Act, the Bench clarified that Section 8 merely grants exemption from disclosure of specific information that may impede investigation or prosecution, but does not authorise the government to completely exclude a department from the scope of the RTI Act.
The Court observed that exclusion of organisations can only be made strictly within the framework of Section 24.
Accordingly, the Court stayed the operation of the impugned notification till the next date of hearing and listed the matter for consideration on June 24.
