NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday began the process of examining whether the office of the Chief Justice of India comes under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. A five-judge Constitution bench, comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi, was hearing appeals filed by the Supreme Court itself, challenging the decision of the Delhi High Court, holding the office of the CJI as a public authority for purposes of the RTI Act.
The debate on the issue has been raised a decade after the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of an RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal, who sought to know the details of the assets of judges, and directed the apex court registry to furnish the information sought. The apex court rejected Agrawal’s request at the time.Agrawal then moved an appeal to the Central Information Commission (CIC), which directed the apex court registry to furnish information. The registry challenged the CIC’s order before the Delhi High Court, which ruled against it.
Appearing for the Supreme Court, Attorney General KK Venugopal said such RTI disclosures might affect the independence of the judiciary. He said, “RTI act is in existence since 2005 and it sets out as to what would be the rights to information and what would be the restrictions on that right. A totally new environment has come into existence by passing this law which invokes constitutional provisions.”
The top law officer also argued against the disclosure of any of the information sought and submitted, saying that making information pertaining to judges’ appointment available in the public domain would be detrimental to the independence of the judiciary.Venugopal said, “Disclosure of file notings and reasons for not appointing/recommending a particular candidate as a judge would be against public interest. Such information should be absolutely confidential. Otherwise, the Collegium judges cannot function independently.”He also stressed on the need to treat information on appointments as a separate class.