Uttarakhand: Vigilance dept declared 'intelligence org', out of RTI ambit

The Vigilance department in Uttarakhand has been declared an intelligence organisation putting it out of the ambit of the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

A notification on this was issued by the state government on Thursday following the Governor's consent.

The step has been taken using powers vested in the Governor under sub-section 4 of section 24 of the RTI Act, 2005 and sub-section 1 of section 4 of Uttar Pradesh Vigilance Establishment Act, 1965, the notification signed by secretary, personnel and vigilance, Radha Raturi said.

The state cabinet had taken the decision to put the vigilance department out of the ambit of the RTI Act by declaring it an intelligence organisation earlier this month.

The state government had justified the move arguing that being under the purview of the RTI Act was hindering investigations taken up by the vigilance department.

As soon as the vigilance department begins to investigate a case, queries seeking information under the RTI Act on its details start pouring in, an official said.

Disclosure of details in a case under investigation hampers the probe, the official added.