Certified copy of oath taken by the Chief Justice of India sought - the form of oath is given in Third Schedule to the Constitution of India which is a freely available document in market and is a priced publication - PIO does not have to provide a copy
6 Aug, 2013Order
1. The Appellant had wanted a certified copy of the oath taken by the Chief Justice of India. It is to be noted that he had further qualified his request by giving an account of some nonstop appeals he had sent to the Chief Justice in some matter. The CPIO had written to him and informed him that some 83 letters and emails received from him, from time to time, had been filed on the order of the Registrar as these were not covered under the PIL guidelines. She did not however send a copy of the oath taken by the then Chief Justice. Against this, the Appellant had preferred an appeal though it is not clear if the Appellate Authority had passed any order.
2. The Appellant insisted that he should get a copy of the oath taken by the then Chief Justice because he wanted to show to the world how the Chief Justice, in dealing with his representations, had not abided by his oath. This is a preposterous argument. The form of the oath or affirmation to be made by the judges of the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice of India is given in the Third Schedule to the Constitution of India. The Constitution of India is a freely available document in the market and is a priced publication which anyone can buy from any book seller. Therefore, the CPIO does not have to provide a copy of the oath which the then Chief Justice of India would have taken.
3. This is an appeal completely without any merit. It is disposed off accordingly.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Sh. Ghansham Ojha v. Supreme Court of India in File No.CIC/SM/C/2013/000185