Supreme Court said, “The process of appointment of judges affects the independence of the judiciary. RTI cannot be used as a monitoring tool.”
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that the office of the Chief Justice is a public authority, so it would come under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI). A 5-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi upheld the Delhi High Court verdict. The Delhi High Court, in its order, termed the post of CJI as a ‘public authority’ under Section 2 (h) of the RTI Act.
‘Can not be used as a monitoring tool’
The Supreme Court said, “Judicial independence should be kept in mind when we talk of transparency. The apex court also said that the judges whose names have been recommended by the collegium cannot be made public. But the reasons for this can be stated. The process of appointment of judges affects the independence of the judiciary. RTI cannot be used as a monitoring tool. ”
The petition was filed in 2010
Subsequently, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Court and the Public Information Officers filed a petition against the orders of the Delhi High Court and the Central Information Commission in 2010. The verdict was reserved by the apex court on April 4 this year after the hearing. The court then said that Kaei also does not want a system of ambiguity.
Information sought from CJI under RTI
Subhash Chandra Aggarwal had sought information from the CJI under RTI. His lawyer in the High Court, Prashant Bhushan, said that even before the RTI Act was introduced, the court supported transparency through its decisions. He had said- Whenever there was a matter of transparency in judicial action, the stand of the court was not clear.
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