Right to Information
A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Syam Kumar issued the directive and adjourned the matter to Nov 18. The court, however, declined the petitioners’ plea for an interim stay on the operation of the impugned govt order dated Oct 22. Kochi : The high court has directed the state govt to file an affidavit on a PIL filed by the RTI Kerala Federation challenging a govt order exempting two sections of the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption bureau, which deal with inquiries into suspected corruption and misconduct, and related records from the purview of the RTI Act. The petitioners, an organisation comprising advocates, RTI activists and civil society members dedicated to promoting awareness of and access to the RTI Act, alleged that the govt order effectively excludes information relating to vigilance inquiries, intelligence inputs and records concerning suspected corruption and misconduct in public administration from the statutory framework governing access to information.