New Delhi, Sept. 28 -- The Tamil Nadu government has revoked a controversial order that exempted the state's Public (Law and Order) Department from the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The rollback comes following intense pushback from political allies of the ruling TVK, opposition leaders, and transparency advocates.

The administration officially withdrew the GO of the Human Resources Management (R) Department, dated September 21.

The now-retracted order had originally invoked Section 24(4) of the transparency law to classify the department as an "Intelligence and Security Organisation," thereby shielding it from public disclosures.

The Right to Information Act, 2005, was a law enacted by the Parliament giving citi...