In a major decision, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet today gave its nod to keep the office of the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI.

The Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, decided to keep the office of the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI Act, 2005, a senior official said.

The government believes that since Lokayukta is an investigating agency there is need to keep its secrecy intact, official sources said.

Any disclosure of on-going investigations could prove detrimental, they said adding the Lokayukta also has judicial powers.

In another important decision, the Cabinet decided to implement the Kanya Vidyadhan Yojna for encouraging girls of economically weak families for further study, the official said.

Under the scheme, identified girls would get one-time encouragement amount of Rs 30,000, he said adding the scheme would be implemented from this year itself.

 Girls passing class 12 this year or later and hailing from families having annual income of not more than Rs 35,000 will be eligible under the scheme.

The girls will be selected by a committee headed by respective District Magistrates, the official said.

The Cabinet also approved the national optical fibre programme following which all Gram Panchayats in the state would be connected through broadband facility.

In another decision, the Cabinet gave its approval to rename the Manyavar Kanshiramji Arbi-Farsi University as Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Arbi-Farsi University.

The previous BSP government had named the university after BSP founder Kanshi Ram