Times of India: Dhananjay Mahapatra:Tuesday 13 September 2011.
NEW DELHI: The winds of transparency ushered in by Chief Justice S H Kapadia in the Supreme Court's functioning appear to have lost some momentum as the court has admitted that it did not have information vital for litigants in how many cases have judgments been reserved and for how long.
In fact, the apex court registry has moved the Delhi High Court challenging an order of the Central Information Commissioner asking it to maintain the data about the period for which judgments are kept reserved and supply it to persons who demand it under the Right to Information Act.
The CIC on August 3 said: "We are of the view that the total number of such cases in which orders are reserved should be duly intimated to the general public."
"Now that the benefit of computerization is available, placing such data in the public domain should not be difficult. Therefore, if the Supreme Court is not maintaining such data, it should do so now in order to facilitate the citizens to learn about the status of pendency before the Supreme Court," the CIC had said.
Appealing against the CIC order, the apex court registry in its petition drafted by advocate Devadatt Kamat said the entire data relating to pending cases was already put in the Supreme Court's website and updated on a monthly basis.
However, "there does not exist any separate compilation of list of cases where arguments have been heard and orders have been reserved", the registry said requesting the HC to set aside the CIC order.
It questioned the applicability of the RTI Act to data which was not even maintained by the registry. The CIC order had come on a petition filed by Commodore (retired) Lokesh K Batra.
It also questioned the CIC's power to direct creation of data, which related to number of cases in which judgment or orders have been reserved. "If the document does not exist, there cannot be any right under the RTI Act to obtain the document. Consequently, the direction of the CIC to create compilation is entirely without jurisdiction," the registry said in its appeal filed through advocate Maneesha Dhir.
In fact, the apex court registry has moved the Delhi High Court challenging an order of the Central Information Commissioner asking it to maintain the data about the period for which judgments are kept reserved and supply it to persons who demand it under the Right to Information Act.
The CIC on August 3 said: "We are of the view that the total number of such cases in which orders are reserved should be duly intimated to the general public."
"Now that the benefit of computerization is available, placing such data in the public domain should not be difficult. Therefore, if the Supreme Court is not maintaining such data, it should do so now in order to facilitate the citizens to learn about the status of pendency before the Supreme Court," the CIC had said.
Appealing against the CIC order, the apex court registry in its petition drafted by advocate Devadatt Kamat said the entire data relating to pending cases was already put in the Supreme Court's website and updated on a monthly basis.
However, "there does not exist any separate compilation of list of cases where arguments have been heard and orders have been reserved", the registry said requesting the HC to set aside the CIC order.
It questioned the applicability of the RTI Act to data which was not even maintained by the registry. The CIC order had come on a petition filed by Commodore (retired) Lokesh K Batra.
It also questioned the CIC's power to direct creation of data, which related to number of cases in which judgment or orders have been reserved. "If the document does not exist, there cannot be any right under the RTI Act to obtain the document. Consequently, the direction of the CIC to create compilation is entirely without jurisdiction," the registry said in its appeal filed through advocate Maneesha Dhir.
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