Supreme Court refuses to direct disclosure of LOP's dissent regarding CIC appointments

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to direct the publication of the dissent note of the Leader of the Opposition in respect of the appointment of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners.

Observing that it would not turn the hearing into an "evaluative exercise", a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Justice N V Anjaria declined to examine the dissent recorded by the LoP or assess the comparative merit of candidates appointed to the Central Information Commission.

The court was hearing a petition filed by RTI activist, Anjali Bharadwaj, seeking a direction that the LoP's dissent must be published.

The bench, however, said, "The scope of court proceedings is to fill the vacancies. We cannot have comparative cases here. It cannot be that we see that this person is better than this one appointed."

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner pointed out that now after the SC directions all vacant posts in the CIC have been filled.

It was pointed out, however, that the deliberations and minutes of the selection committee, dissent note of LoP, short-listing criteria have not been placed in the public domain despite the directions contained in the original judgment of 2019.

The bench asked Bhushan whether the Government of India or the selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, appoint an unqualified person.