Only final decision of Collegium, not discussion to be made public under RTI: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday said only the final decision and not the discussions of Collegium meetings could be made public under the Right to Information Act.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar rejected a plea by activist Anjali Bhardwaj seeking a direction to disclose the details of a 2018 Collegium meeting, in which the decisions were taken to elevate two High Court Chief Justices to SC.

"The discussions within the Collegium system cannot be put in public domain through RTI as these discussions do not assume the character of a final decision of the multi-member body resulting in passing resolution," the bench said in its judgement.

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The court said the plea by Bhardwaj is based on comments by an ex-Collegium member on a decision taken to elevate two High Court Chief Justices.

It said the ex-judge's remark has no relevance as discussions are not Collegium's decision.

The petitioner, led by advocate Prashant Bhushan, contended that the appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and High Court should be made in a transparent manner in order to generate public trust.

"Whatever is discussed in Collegium need not be in public domain. Only final resolution is required to be published,” the bench said.

Bhardwaj had filed a petition seeking a direction to get the agenda, minutes and resolution of SC Collegium meeting of December 12, 2018, under the RTI Act.