Supporters of RTI are up in arms against the series of orders passed by the UP government that stops many of the departments in vigilance to be included in the preview of RTI.

The writ was filed by the National RTI Forum in the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow bench on Tuesday. It has been filed against a notification that came on September 22 and was issued by principal secretary, Vigilance, UP. As per it, vigilance department and UP Vigilance Establishment was brought out of the preview of Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

It was passed by the UP government under section 24(4) of the RTI Act and said that providing information from the vigilance department can have serious repercussions on investigation of many processes.

Meanwhile, the RTI supporters have seeked interim relief till the time they get to fight their case in the court. They said that the notification is defying the very purpose for which RTI was started. If the same is accepted then transparency and accountability will be killed altogether.

The petition is also providing for a comparative status of UP Vigilance department vis-a-vis the Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation.