Livemint: New Delhi: Wednesday, September 9, 2015
The Centre on Tuesday challenged a single judge decision that would bring the office of Attorney General of India (AGI) under the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI).
The Centre began its arguments before the division bench comprising of chief justice of Delhi High Court G. Rohini and justice Jayant Nath.
“Single judge has equated public office with public authority. The judgement is flawed and proceeds on the assumption that the AG’s office has been referred to as being a public office under a judgment of the Supreme Court.” said additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain, representing the Centre. The Centre will continue its arguments on 4 November.
The question posed by the Centre before the court was whether the AG or his office had been constituted to act as a public authority.
It was further claimed that the AG could not be a public office due to the nature of the functions discharged by him.
The order of the single bench was challenged on 26 March before a division bench of the Delhi high court comprising of Rohini and justice RS Endlaw.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru in his order had held that in light of the nature of functions discharged by the Attorney General, he was a constitutional functionary and was obliged to discharge functions under the Constitution as well as under any other law.
“An office that is established under the Constitution of India would clearly fall within the definition of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act,” it said.
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