Information Commission urges SC to keep record of judges' medical bills

The Central Information Commission has again asked the Supreme Court to ensure that medical bills of serving and retired judges are duly maintained and provided to RTI applicants after the Apex court did not decide on sharing the details despite the panel’s order in 2010.

Responding to activist Subhash Agrawal, the Supreme Court had said it does not keep records of medical reimbursement of judges and, hence, they could not be furnished to him.

In August 2010, the CIC had directed the Supreme Court to make arrangements to maintain details of medical reimbursement made to judges. They should, it had said, be maintained in digital format so that their retrieval and disclosure could be easier.

However, the Supreme Court did not furnish details, saying a stay has been issued by the Delhi High Court on the disclosure of information of similar nature in a separate case and, therefore, such records could not be made public.

Agrawal again moved the CIC, saying details of medical reimbursement have not been provided to him.

In his verdict last week, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra directed the Apex court to place the order before the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to decide on maintenance of these records.