Domain-B: New Delhi: Sunday, July 09, 2017.
The Supreme
Court on Thursday seemed for the first time to seek an end to the judiciary's
reluctance to come under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act,
saying it favoured bringing the office of the Chief Justice of India within the
domain of the transparency law.
A bench of
Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy said offices of all constitutional
functionaries should be made amenable to the RTI law to bring transparency and
accountability in their functioning. The court specifically mentioned that the
offices of governors and the Chief Justice of India should be brought under the
ambit of RTI Act.
The court was
hearing a batch of petitions challenging a Bombay High Court order declaring
the governor's office a public authority and directing the Goa Raj Bhavan to
make public the governor's report to the President on the political situation
in the state in July-August 2007.
The
information was sought under RTI by current Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar,
who was then the leader of the opposition in the Goa assembly.
Solicitor-General
Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, contended that another case pertaining
to the CJI's office was pending before the Constitution bench and the matter
should be tagged along with those cases. He said constitutional authorities
discharge sovereign functions and they should be exempted from the RTI Act.
The bench,
however, did not agree with his submission and said, "What is there to
hide? There is nothing to hide for the Chief Justice of India. There is no
secretive business of the chief justice and the office of CJI should be brought
within RTI's ambit. Why governor and CJI should not be brought under RTI?"
This is the
first time the apex court has argued in favour of RTI applying to the
judiciary.
The issue of
whether the Supreme Court should come within the ambit of the RTI Act, making
it obligatory for the CJI to divulge information on the appointment of judges
and his correspondences with the government, is under consideration by a
constitution bench.
Earlier, the
apex court has time and again refused to reveal information under the Act
despite the Central Information Commission (CIC) and some high courts declaring
the CJI's office as public authority under the RTI Act. The administrative side
of the apex court has challenged all such orders in the SC and cases are still
pending.
The Delhi
high court had in 2009 declared the CJI as a public authority under the Act and
asked the top court to make assets of its judges public. The verdict was
challenged by the SC through its Central Public Information Officers before the
apex court, which matter is still pending.