KOCHI: The government informed the High Court that it has revoked the order exempting the T Branch (Top Secret) of Vigilance from RTI, which investigates corruption allegations and complaints against the Chief Minister, Ministers, etc. With this, information on corruption cases against high-ranking officials will be obtained under the Right to Information Act. The Indian Association of Lawyers and the Aam Aadmi Party filed petitions in 2016 against the government's January 27, 2016 order exempting the Vigilance T Branch from the purview of the Right to Information Act. A division bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Murali Purushothaman recorded this explanation and disposed of the petitions.
Vigilance T Branch is responsible for investigating corruption cases involving Chief Minister, Ministers, MPs, MLAs, top IAS - IPS officers etc. The director of vigilance had issued another order on February 9, 2016, prohibiting the officials of Vigilance T Branch from providing investigative information. Both these orders were challenged by the petitioners. The government counsel informed that the order exempting the Vigilance T Branch from the purview of the RTI Act has been canceled and a new order has been issued on January 9, 2022. A copy of the new order was also produced. Subsequently, the Division Bench disposed of the petitions.