Curb RTI ambit in judiciary, CJI asks PM

Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN 27 November 2009, 01:36am IST

NEW DELHI: Rattled by a spate of Central Information Commission (CIC) orders asking the judiciary to divulge details on sensitive issues like appointment of judges, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his help in exempting matters relating to administration of justice from the purview of RTI Act.

The letter highlights the process of judicial appointment in India on the basis of a Supreme Court judgment and pointed out that under the prevailing process, the meeting of the collegium seldom put in writing its views on persons who were rejected from being appointed as judges of high courts or the Supreme Court.

There were other sensitive matters relating to administration of justice, which if divulged could create division within the judiciary and ultimately tell upon its independence, the letter said.

Highly placed sources said the PM shared the CJI's concern and forwarded the letter to the law ministry for appropriate action.

The CJI wrote to the PM that secrecy around the selection process of judges was not unique to India. In US, he argued, information about selection of judges could only be given to the public after 15 years of the event and in Australia, it was completely exempted from the purview of the right to information of public.

Meanwhile, at the Law Day function organised in the Supreme Court, Justice Balakrishnan said the judiciary had no objections to Parliament effecting laws to change the present collegium process of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.

Responding to SC Bar Association president M N Krishnamani's charge that India was the only country where judges appointed judges and that the selection process for judges to HCs and SC needed to be broad-based, the CJI said judiciary was following the system put in place by a constitution Bench of the apex court and that he was bound by it.

"We are not opposed to any change in the appointment process. Let Parliament decide a fresh process and if it is good for the country, we will be happy to follow the new system. Let us not blindly follow the selection process prevalent in other countries. We can have our own system," Justice Balakrishnan said.

However, he said it would be difficult in the present circumstances to allow video recording of proceedings in the Supreme Court.
dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com