CJI's office falls under RTI Act: HC

In a path-breaking judgment, the Delhi High Court today held that the chief justice of India is a public authority and his office came within the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and disclosure of assets of Supreme Court judges made to him could be made public.

The judgment, which is expected to bring more transparency in the judiciary, assumes significance as Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan has been consistently maintaining that the CJI’s office did not come within the ambit of the RTI Act.

“The CJI is a public authority under the RTI Act and the CJI holds the information pertaining to assets declaration in his capacity as chief justice. That office is a public authority under the Act and is covered by its provisions,” Justice S Ravindra Bhatt said in a 72-page judgment.

“Declaration of assets by Supreme Court judges is an information under Section 2 (f) of the RTI Act. The information pertaining to declaration given to the CJI and the contents of such declaration are information and subject to the provisions of the RTI Act,” the court said.

The verdict came in the backdrop of intense debate over the issue and last week’s decision by Supreme Court judges to make public their assets on the official website.

The high court rejected the plea of the Supreme Court that the disclosure of information on assets held by the CJI was “unworkable”.