Times of India: New Delhi: Friday, July 07, 2017.
Shedding
judiciary's reluctance to come within the ambit of the Right to Information
(RTI) Act, the Supreme Court for the first time on Thursday favoured bringing
the office of the chief justice 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 pointed out that
the offices of governors and the Chief Justice of India should be brought under
the ambit of RTI Act.
It was
hearing a batch of petitions challenging a Bombay high court order declaring
the governor's office as public authority and directing the Goa Raj Bhavan to
make public the governor's report sent to the President on the political
situation in the state during July-August 2007. The information was sought
under RTI by Manohar Parrikar, who was then the leader of the opposition in the
Goa assembly.
S olicitor
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 government's appeal should be tagged along with those cases. He said
constitutional authorities discharge sovereign functions and they should be
exempted from coming under 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?" the
bench asked.
T he issue
whether the Supreme Court should come within the ambit of RTI Act making it
obligatory for the CJI to make public information pertaining to appointment of
judges and his correspondences with the government is under consideration
before a Constitution bench. But it is for the first time that the apex court
batted for implementation of RTI in judiciary .
The court's
observation assumes significance as the apex court had 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 is still pending.