Chief minister C Joseph Vijay -led Tamil Nadu government on Sunday withdrew a controversial order that had kept the state’s Public (Law and Order) Department outside the scope of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, following objections from allies of the ruling TVK , along with criticism from the opposition DMK.
The reversal came soon after the government’s decision sparked a political row. Its alliance partners, including the Congress and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), had strongly opposed the move. He argued that the scope of the RTI Act should be widened instead of being restricted. The Sivaganga Lok Sabha MP later welcomed the government’s decision to withdraw the order.
The government formally revoked the order issued by the Human Resources Management (R) Department on September 21.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram criticised the decision, saying it set a “bad precedent”. He said that if the order had stayed in place, RTI access would have been denied for records related to investigations into police torture, custodial deaths, police firings, communal clashes and security-related detentions.
He said freedom of expression would not be affected but added that its “lakshman rekha” needed to be respected. Congress and VCK leaders, who are part of the TVK-led “Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance” (SSJVA) in the state, had called for the order to be withdrawn. Earlier on Sunday, school education minister A Rajmohan had defended the original decision.
