Chief Justice of India's Office Comes Under RTI Act: Supreme Court

New Delhi, November 13, 2019:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave its judgment on the plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision of bringing the office of the Chief Justice of India under the ‘Right to Information Act’ (RTI).

The apex court, constituted of a five- bench judges ruled that the office of the Chief Justice of India is a public authority under the Right to Information Act.

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The bench was headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. Other members of the bench are Justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna read out the majority verdict, said that public interest demands that transparency is maintained. “Transparency does not undermine judicial independence,” the judge stated.

The Constitution bench had on April 4 reserved its verdict on the appeals filed in 2010 by the Supreme Court secretary-general and its central public information officer against the high court and the central information commission's (CIC's) orders.

The bench, headed by the chief justice, also said that nobody wants a “system of opaqueness”, but the judiciary cannot be destroyed in the name of transparency.

The Delhi High Court, in a landmark verdict on January 10, 2010, had held that the CJI's office comes within the ambit of the RTI, saying judicial independence was not a judge's privilege, but a responsibility cast upon him.

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However, the judgment was then seen as a personal setback to the then CJI, KG Balakrishnan, who has been opposed to disclosure of information relating to judges under the RTI Act.

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