Information regarding the status of the case pending in the SC - CIC: Since the Supreme Court has clear rules in place for disclosure, those rules are not inconsistent with section 22 - the copies of the judicial records cannot be disclosed under RTI
1 Sep, 2013
Order
1. Referring to a particular case, namely, SLP No. 10138/2010, the Appellant had sought eight items of information regarding the status of the case. The CPIO had advised him that he should get the certified copies of the judicial records by following the procedure laid down in the Supreme Court Rules. Not satisfied with this response, he had preferred an appeal. The Appellate Authority had dismissed his appeal after endorsing the advice given by the CPIO.
2. In a large number of similar cases in the past, the CIC has held that the copies of the judicial records cannot be disclosed under RTI since the Supreme Court of India has clear rules in place for disclosing such information. Therefore, in the present case also, we are not going to change our decision. Section 22 The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923), and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act. of the Right to Information (RTI) Act clearly provides that “the provisions of the RTI Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act 1923 and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act”. In other words, this implies that the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act will have an overriding effect on all other laws in existence at the time of its promulgation if there is anything inconsistent in those laws. Since the Supreme Court Rules allow for disclosure of information, those rules are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and, therefore, a citizen cannot seek the certified copies of judicial records under RTI. In fact this position has been reinforced by an order of the Supreme Court of India in the Karnataka Information Commission case.
3. The appeal is disposed off accordingly.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Sh. Inderasan Prasad v. Supreme Court of India in File No.CIC/SM/A/2013/000378