Disclose communication between PM, CJI on RTI: CIC

Communication exchanged between the Chief Justice of India and the Prime Minister on the issue of Right to Information Act since 2005 should be disclosed, the Central Information Commission has held.

The transparency panel in its recent order has directed the Supreme Court official to visit the records in their files and provide information to the applicant who had sought copies of communication exchanges between the CJI and the Prime Minister since 2005.

The case relates to an RTI application filed by Mumbai-based Siddharth Murarka who sought copies of the correspondence between the two authorities on the issue of transparency law since the year 2001.

The application was rejected by the Supreme Court which said that nature of queries was general and not specific.

When the matter reached the Commission, the Supreme Court argued that since the applicant has sought for information spanning across 12 years and since such correspondence could be spread in number of files, tracing them and furnishing them to the applicant were an 'impossible task'.

The apex court also said Central Public Information Officer cannot judge which correspondence was related to Right to Information Act and which was not.

Considering the arguments given by the Supreme Court, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra directed it to limit the search since 2005 when the RTI Act was passed.

'... The CPIO is directed to revisit the records and, if available and, if available, send the copies of the correspondence between the CJI and the PM since the year 2005 on the subject of Right to Information within 10 working days,' Mishra said in his order.