Subjecting CJI to RTI: SC asks activist to file reply

A bench of Justice B S Reddy and Justice S S Nijjar asked Subhash Chandra Agrawal, the RTI activist to file his reply in 4 weeks. The SC registry has challenged the January 12, 2010 verdict that declared that the office of the CJI came within the ambit of the RTI law, and held that judicial independence was not a judge’s privilege but a responsibility cast upon him.

The bench of Chief Justice (now retired) Ajit Prakash Shah, Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice S Muralidhar, upholding a single bench order, maintained that accountability of the judiciary cannot be seen in isolation. “We are of the view that the matter involves question of law and that the said question needs to be decided by the Supreme Court. Accordingly leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is granted” said the appeal filed by Advocate B K Prasad.

For that the judgment of the Delhi High Court is based on a completely erroneous interpretation of the provisions and scheme of The Right to Information Act, 2005 in general and of the issues involved in this case, in particular, the petition said.