Supreme Court refuses to provide information regarding its vehicles under RTI
24 Jul, 2013
An application was filed with the Supreme Court of India under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get details about its fleet of cars and to know whether the vehicles being used by judges and staff have tinted glass or windows coated with dark films. The application also sought to know about the number of government vehicles being used by the apex court, their make, average monthly fuel consumption, copies of pollution certificates and who uses which vehicle.
In the reply, the Supreme Court provided only part information claiming that such information, especially the numbers of cars being used by the judges, could adversely affect their safety. When the matter reached the Central Information Commission (CIC), it contended that though the argument of SC had some merit, it could not be the basis for denying information and hence asked the apex court to furnish the information.
However, the applicant was informed by the additional registrar and the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Supreme Court that the CIC’s order will be challenged in the court. It would be worth mentioning that the Supreme Court had banned the use of black films and tinted windows in all vehicles in April 2012.