Should the ‘Lokayukta’ be covered under RTI Act?
18 Aug, 2012The state government of Madhya Pradesh has issued a notification which keeps the offices of Lokayukta and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) out of the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The notification has been challenged in the state High Court by RTI activist Ajay Dubey alleging malafide intentions behind the notification. The appellant had accused the state government of misusing the section 24(4) of the RTI Act, 2005 according to which intelligence and security related organizations may not reply to the queries under RTI. The appellant has claimed that the Lokayukta and EOW do not fall under this category of exemption from RTI Act and therefore, they ought not to be removed from the purview of the RTI Act. Based on the petition, the High Court bench has issued a notice to the state government seeking their reply to the matter.