Communication exchanged between the CJI and the PM regarding RTI to be disclosed
10 Jul, 2013
Hearing an appeal filed by Siddharth Murarka who sought copies of the correspondence between the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and the Prime Minister on the issue of Right to Information Act since 2005, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed to disclose the information. The CIC asked the PIO to visit the records in their files and provide information to the applicant, if available.
The RTI applicant had sought copies of the correspondence between the two authorities regarding the RTI Act since the year 2001. The Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Supreme Court rejected the application claiming that the nature of queries was general and not specific. Before the CIC, the Supreme Court argued that the applicant had sought information covering 12 years and since such communication could be spread over a number of files, tracing them for furnishing to the applicant was an 'impossible task'. Further, the PIO cannot judge which correspondence amongst the files was related to RTI Act. After hearing the arguments, the Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra restricted the search limiting it w.e.f 2005 when the RTI Act was passed. The CIC ruled that “The CPIO is directed to revisit the records 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”.