SC rejects plea on RTI in judiciary

Sat, May 17 01:00 AM

CITIZENS' FIGHT for their right to know about the details of judges' wealth, appointments and complaints of misconduct against them received a setback on Thursday. The Supreme Court dismissed a petition demanding implementation of the Right to Information Act in the judiciary.

The PIL filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties national president K.G. Kannabiran had sought an order "requesting" Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan to give directions to the Supreme Court secretary general and registrar generals of all high courts to provide all information sought by the public under the RTI Act, 2005. On behalf of the petitioner, senior advocate Ravi Kiran Jain said the CJI's stand on the issue has been disputed by two former CJIs and being the national president of PUCL, the petitioner was raising it in public interest.

However, a bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat dismissed the PIL terming it as "thoroughly misconceived". The court said the petition was premature as the petitioner had not filed any RTI application before the Supreme Court.

Kannabiran, a senior advocate and civil rights activist, had contending that judicial independence and judicial accountability were not contradictory to each other. He had sought an order "requesting" the CJI to ensure enforcement of people's right to elicit information, unless withholding of it was necessary for security reasons.

Civil rights activists, top jurists and bar leaders have stepped up the pressure on the judiciary to act in a more transparent manner and criticised the CJI's stand on declaration of assets by judges and implementation of the RTI. The definition of "public authority" and "competent authority" under the RTI Act "left no doubt that the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts being public authority under the Act are amenable to the jurisdiction of the RTI," said Kannabiran.

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