Tamil Nadu government withdraws its order exempting the Public (Law and Order) Department from the RTI Act.
The order faced objections from alliance partners Congress and VCK, along with criticism from the DMK.
The reversal follows concerns over access to information on police firing, custodial deaths, protests and communal incidents.
The C Joseph Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government on Sunday withdrew an order that had placed the state's Public (Law and Order) Department outside the scope of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, following opposition from alliance partners and criticism from the DMK.
The reversal came days after the Human Resources Management (R) Department issued the order on September 21. Congress and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), both part of the ruling TVK-led alliance, had called for the order to be withdrawn.
Why Was The RTI Exemption Controversial?
The withdrawn order invoked Section 24(4) of the RTI Act to classify the Public (Law and Order) Department as an “Intelligence and Security Organisation”. Such organisations are generally excluded from the transparency law, subject to the exceptions provided under the Act.
Had the order remained in force, information held by the department on matters such as communal incidents, political protests, custodial deaths and other law-and-order issues could have faced restrictions under the RTI framework.
The government formally revoked the September 21 order on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, school education minister A Rajmohan had defended the original decision, saying it would not affect freedom of expression but arguing that its “lakshman rekha” needed to be respected.
The move, however, drew objections from within the ruling alliance.
Congress, VCK Welcome Reversal
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram had criticised the original order as a “bad precedent”, arguing that the scope of the RTI Act should be expanded rather than restricted.
Chidambaram said the exemption could have affected access to records concerning allegations of police torture, custodial deaths, police firing, communal clashes and security-related detentions. He later welcomed the government's decision to withdraw the order.
VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan had described the notification as “highly shocking” and warned that it could affect transparency and human rights. He had called for its immediate withdrawal.
The DMK had also targeted the government over the order. DMK MP Kanimozhi described it as an alleged attempt to conceal the government's failures on law and order.
“Despite more than five hundred murders, a government incapable of restoring law and order is now attempting to restrict RTI rights so that people cannot even seek information about law and order, apparently to cover up its own failures,” she said in a post on X.
The withdrawal ends the immediate controversy over the September 21 notification, although the episode has triggered a wider political debate over transparency, police accountability and the scope of RTI exemptions in Tamil Nadu.
