After backlash, Vijay sarkar rescinds L&O RTI waiver

Chennai: The ruling TVK government on Sunday withdrew the controversial order exempting the Public (Law and Order) Department from the Right to Information (RTI) Act following the outrage it triggered over it.

The department, which deals with, among other matters, police custodial deaths, custodial torture, and the deaths of remand prisoners, was classified as an 'Intelligence and Security Organisation' under the withdrawn order which would have kept it outside the RTI framework and restricted public access to the information it holds.

The order, dated September 21, 2026, received considerable backlash from the Opposition and alliance parties as public law and order deals with multiple subjects, including inquiry reports into opening of police fire, custody death, police torture, among other sensitive issues.


Read more: Vijay's TVK govt exempts Public (Law and Order) Department from the RTI Act in Tamil Nadu

Prior to the revocation, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan had termed the gazette notification "highly shocking," warning it would "pave the way for suppressing human rights", and had strongly demanded its immediate withdrawal.

CPM MP Venkatesan had urged the government to withdraw the order, calling it an attempt to turn Tamil Nadu into a "police state".

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also flagged the initial decision, stating that it set a "bad precedent" and maintained that the scope of the RTI Act must be expanded rather than restricted. Had the order remained in force, the exemption would have blocked RTI access to records concerning inquiries into police torture, custodial deaths, police firings, communal clashes, and security-related detentions, he argued. The Sivaganga Lok Sabha MP later welcomed the government decision to revoke the controversial order.

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DMK MP Kanimozhi slammed the Vijay-led government and described the order as an "attempt to cover up its own failures".

"Despite more than 500 murders, a government incapable of restoring law and order is now trying to restrict RTI rights so that people cannot even seek information about law and order, apparently to cover up its own failures. This is shameful. Is this the change they promised?" she said in a post on X.

TVK minister CTR Nirmal Kumar had earlier defended the decision, saying the exemption was mainly intended to keep information related to community clashes outside the RTI framework.

He said the Law and Order Department covers around 20 sections, but only a few were proposed to be kept outside the scope of the RTI Act.

"Only community clash-related incident details will not be given under RTI because many are asking for RTI on community clashes. There are 20 sections under Law and Order, only a few sections are exempted from RTI," Nirmal Kumar had said.

The minister had also indicated that the government could reconsider the decision if the public raised concerns over it. "However, if the public expresses discomfort, we will take it to the chief minister for further action," he had said.

Earlier in the day, school education minister A Rajmohan too tried to defend the initial stand, asserting that while freedom of expression would not be affected, its 'Lakshman Rekha' should be kept in mind.