New Delhi: Is the Chief Justice of India covered by the Right to Information (RTI) Act and obliged to disclose his assets like any other public servant? A 5-judge Constitution Bench will take up the contentious issue on March 27 on a petition filed way back in 2010 by the Secretary General of the Supreme Court.
The secretary general had filed the appeal against the January 2010 verdict of Delhi High Court declaring the CJI’s office as a “public authority” within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005.
He had challenged a single judge’s verdict before a 3-judge Bench of Delhi High Court, headed by then Chief Justice A P Shah, but it too upheld the verdict that the Supreme Court and the CJI were duty bound under the RTI Act to give information in response to RTI applications filed by citizens with regard to the top court’s administration.
Subhash Chandra Agarwal, a RTI activist of Delhi, had sought information on the assets of the top court judges and secured an order from the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) directing the Supreme Court central public information officer to provide the information he had sought.
A single judge of the High Court as also its 3-judge Bench upheld the CIC’s order, forcing the secretary general to challenge the verdict before the Apex Court in 2010 itself. His appeal came up for issue only in 2016 when a Supreme Court Bench referred it to the Constitution Bench.
