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CJI comes under RTI Act,

but with riders

Gogoi, Justice NV Ramana, Justice DY
tehelka bureau Chandrachud, Justice Deepak Gupta
and Justice Sanjiv Khanna pronounced
the verdict with a 3:2 majority. A five-
he ruling that the office of judge constitution bench had on April 4
the CJI fell within the ambit reserved its verdict on the appeals filed
of the Right to Information The in 2010 by the Supreme Court secretary
Act will bolster the cred- Supreme Court general and its central public informa-
T ibility of the judiciary in the tion officer against the high court and
public eye. The apex court has agreed observes that the central information commission’s
that it is not above the law though confidentiality and (CIC’s) orders.
the decision has come with a rider of The bench headed by the Chief
the ‘independence of judiciary’. The right to privacy have Justice of India, had wrapped up the
Supreme Court observed that confi- to be maintained. RTI hearing, saying nobody wants a “system
dentiality and right to privacy have of opaqueness”, but the judiciary cannot
to be maintained and added that RTI can’t be used as a be destroyed in the name of transpar-
can’t be used as a tool of surveillance. tool of surveillance, ency. “Nobody wants to remain in the
It also said only names of judges rec- state of darkness or keep anybody in
ommended by the collegium can be it says, adding that the state of darkness,” it had said. “The
disclosed, not the reasons. only names of judges question is drawing a line. In the name
The Constitution is supreme and of transparency, you can’t destroy the
laws have to be framed keeping in recommended by the institution.”
view its avowed aims. It is the duty of In a landmark verdict on January 10,
the court to interpret and uphold it. collegium can be 2010, the Delhi High Court had held in
The RTI is also an Act of Parliament, a disclosed, not the 88-page judgment that the office of the
tool to bring in accountability. The five- Chief Justice of India comes within the
judge bench of Chief Justice Ranjan reasons ambit of the Right to Information law,

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