Civil society and RTI activists on Friday held a rally
here demanding withdrawal of the notification issued by the State Government
keeping Vigilance department out of the purview of the Right to Information
(RTI) Act.
The State
Information and Public Relations Department had issued a notification on August
11saying, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section 4 of section 24
of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the State Government do hereby specify
that nothing, contained in the said Act, shall apply to the general
administration (Vigilance) department and its organisation.”
A large
number of activists first organised a rally near Ram Mandir Square and later
held a meeting in front of the State Assembly demanding immediate revocation of
the “arbitrary” notification.
“The
notification is against the spirit of the RTI Act. Despite our appeals to the
Chief Minister and the Governor to intervene in the matter, nothing has
happened as yet. Our agitation will be intensified if the Government fails to
withdraw the notification,” said Odisha Soochana Abhiyan convenor Pradip
Pradhan, who organised the rally.
The State
Government’s arbitrary decision has also been challenged in the Orissa High
Court. Civil society Global Human Rights Communication’s executive director
Subash Mohapatra has filed the petition in the High Court seeking quashing of
the notification.
According
to Section 24 (4) of the RTI Act, only intelligence and security organisations
will be outside the Act’s ambit.
The
activists later submitted a memorandum in this regard to the Chief Minister.
No comments:
Post a Comment