HC stays notification exempting vigilance, ACB from RTI Act

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh high court has stayed a state govt notification that sought to exclude the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (ACB) from the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, observing that the move prima facie appeared to be without any authority of law and to be in conflict with the provisions of the Act.A division bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma passed the interim order while hearing a petition challenging the March 12 notification issued by the state govt under Section 24(4) of the RTI Act. The court put the state govt on notice to file its response by June 24. The impugned notification attempted to bring the vigilance bureau under the category of exempted organisations to which the RTI Act does not apply. However, the court noted that Section 24 of the Act permits exemption only to "intelligence and security organisations" established by the state govt. Referring to the state vigilance and ACB's original notification dated Nov 15, 2006, the bench observed that the bureau was constituted as a department for investigation of corruption and economic offences under various laws, including the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act, Essential Commodities Act, Motor Vehicles Act, Indian Forest Act and other state legislations. The court added that the notification itself clearly demonstrated that the bureau was not an intelligence or security organisation. During the hearing, advocate general Anup Rattan defended the notification by citing Section 8(h) of the RTI Act, which exempted disclosure of information that could impede investigation, apprehension or prosecution of offenders.