SC wants views of HCs on RTI queries about judges' appointment

NEW DELHI: Faced with increasing number of queries under Right to Information (RTI) Act on judges' appointment to higher judiciary, the Supreme Court on Monday sought the views of all High Courts on this issue.

Responses of HCs were sought by a Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar, which was hearing a petition filed by the CPIO of the apex court challenging an order of the Central Information Commission directing making public such information.

"We see that such matters frequently arise and High Courts are dealing with these problems. Why should we not issue notice to the registrar generals of all High Courts," the Bench asked.

On an application from S C Agarwal, the CIC, apart from asking the SC to give information about the appointment process of judges, had also directed the apex court to furnish information under RTI about the correspondence between the Chief Justice of India and the CJs of HCs.

It had also allowed the plea of Agarwal asking the SC to disclose the communication between Justice R Regupathy of Madras HC to the CJI after he alleged that a central minister had tried to influence him in a case.

Attorney general G E Vahanvati, who questioned the CIC decision, argued that if opinions expressed by judges were to be laid out in the public domain, nobody could expect a frank opinion.

Defending the sanctity to be attached to collegium decisions and other communication exchanged between CJI and CJs of HCs and other judges, Vahanvati said, "The consultor and consultee must be in a position to speak frankly. The difficulty is that if these communication are put in public domain, nobody will express an honest opinion."

Appearing for Agarwal, advocate Prashant Bhushan said these arguments held no merit as in a democracy, the public had the first right to know how top judicial appointments were carried out, as ultimately such information benefited the public at large.
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