Another reversal by Vijay government: Revokes RTI exemption for Law and Order department

The reversal came after the government order surfaced publicly on Sunday morning and immediately drew criticism, including from parties supporting the government.

CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan was among those who criticised the decision. The original order had specified the Public (Law and Order) Department as an intelligence and security organisation established by the Tamil Nadu government, bringing it within the exemption provided under Section 24 of the RTI Act.

The withdrawal also adds to a pattern of policy reversals under the relatively new TVK government. Government insiders describe some of these episodes as part of a tactical approach in which contentious decisions are allowed into the public domain before the administration gauges political and public response and decides whether to persist with them. The government has not publicly described the RTI episode in those terms.

In this instance, the political sensitivity was particularly pronounced: the exemption concerned a department whose records cover police conduct, custodial deaths, allegations of torture, communal and caste violence, political protests and preventive detention even as the Vijay government has projected greater accountability and transparency as essential to its campaign against corruption.

The Human Resources Management Department had issued the government order invoking Section 24(4) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, which allows state governments to exempt intelligence and security organisations established by them.

“The Governor of Tamil Nadu hereby specifies the Public (Law and Order) Department being an Intelligence and Security Organisation established by the Government of Tamil Nadu for which the said Act shall not apply,” the now-revoked notification said.

Why order attracted attention

The decision had attracted attention because the department is not merely concerned with intelligence inputs or classified security operations. Its responsibilities extend across areas involving police conduct, civil liberties, political activity and government accountability.

Among other subjects, it examines inquiry reports into deaths in police custody, allegations of police torture and deaths of remand prisoners, as well as inquiries into police firing. It also handles references from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on matters falling within the Law and Order wing.

The department deals with communal and caste clashes and political agitations, and with requests for the withdrawal of cases registered in connection with them. It also handles agitations involving students and agricultural labourers.

Activists flay order

Reacting to the original decision, Arappor Iyakkam, Tamil Nadu’s prominent anti-corruption movement, had said it was “shocking” that the state government had exempted the Law and Order wing of the Public Department from the RTI Act.

“It is absurd to classify all information held by the Public Department’s Law and Order wing as intelligence-related. The Tamil Nadu government must immediately withdraw this order. It is condemnable to claim that you are bringing in transparency while acting in a manner that runs directly contrary to it,” the statement said.

A senior police officer who retired as the state Director General of Police (DGP) told The Indian Express that the decision directly contradicted Chief Minister Vijay’s anti-corruption campaign.

“Fighting corruption should not be understood simply as punishing someone after wrongdoing has occurred. Bringing transparency to the system is what helps to end corruption. Transparency itself is an essential anti-corruption mechanism. The latest decision is a setback to that principle, particularly because policing requires greater public scrutiny, not less,” he said.

He also pointed to persistent allegations of corruption and high-handedness within the system and instances in which police officers effectively operated “kangaroo courts” to settle private disputes outside the judicial process.

“This notification therefore substantially narrows the ordinary route through which citizens, journalists and activists can seek information from a department whose files touch some of the most contested exercises of state and police powers,” he had said.

VCK president and MP Thol Thirumavalavan, whose party supports the TVK government, had called the announcement “highly shocking”. “It will pave the way for suppressing human rights. Therefore, we strongly urge the government to immediately withdraw it,” he had said.

What the department oversees

The Law and Order Department handles preventive detention under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) and the National Security Act (NSA). Its work includes representations made by detainees and habeas corpus petitions filed by them or on their behalf before the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court.

Its other functions include organising monthly law-and-order review meetings and special meetings directed by the Chief Secretary; sending reports on law-and-order and communal incidents to the Union government; and preparing replies to questions raised in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The department also processes proposals seeking sanction for prosecution over allegedly defamatory articles, news reports and speeches — a function that can directly intersect with political expression and the work of journalists.

Under Section 24 of the RTI Act, intelligence and security organisations notified by governments are generally exempt from the law. The exemption is not absolute: the Act specifically provides that information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human-rights violations cannot be excluded on this ground. Requests concerning allegations of human-rights violations are subject to additional conditions under the Act.