BEIJING, May 7 (Reuters) - Chinese workers have sued their local government for denying them information about an official probe, the first such case since landmark rules on disclosure came into effect last week, state media said on Wednesday.

China passed regulations last year demanding governments disclose information about issues affecting the public interest in a bid to combat rampant corruption and discourage cover-ups enabled by often secretive decision-making processes.

The case, lodged by five retired workers in Rucheng county, in southern Hunan province, sought to force the county government to release details of an investigation into the alleged illegal privatisation of a state-owned water plant.

The workers, who retired from the plant after it was turned into a joint venture six years ago, had sued after repeated demands for information were rebuffed, the China Daily said.

"The county government finished an investigation into the case in the second half of 2007. We applied on several occasions before May for some (details), but to no avail," the paper quoted Huang Youjian, one of the plaintiffs as saying.

"I think it will be more likely that the county government will have to disclose the investigation details to us this time," Huang said.

The county government, however, had shrugged off the case, saying the investigation was for "the internal reference of the county leaders" and did not qualify for public disclosure.

The paper's editorial noted that the regulations would be hard to implement in the face of resistance from local officials long used to top-down, unquestioned rule.

"Even for those clean officials, the publicity of some information they used to keep under wraps will exert pressure on their work," it said.

The case comes as local media blame health officials for being slow to disclose outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease that have lead to 28 deaths across the country since March.

China, which initially covered up the SARS epidemic in 2003, has denied any cover-up this time, with officials saying they needed time to correctly diagnose the disease before publicly disclosing it. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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