Disclosure of the reasons for the decision taken by the Supreme Court under RTI

Background

The appellant sought for the copy of judicial record related to the case decided by the Supreme Court of India and the reasons for some of the conclusions reached in that order. The Public Information Officer (PIO) advised the appellant to deposit a certain amount of money for getting the copy of the order and informed him that it is beyond the scope of the PIO's duty to offer any justification/explanation for the orders passed by the Supreme Court of India. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) endorsed the views of the PIO.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission rejected the appeal observing that if there are certain conclusions in the order, the reasons for those conclusions have to be found out in the order itself. The PIO cannot interpret the order and come out with his own justifications.

Comments

There are many cases where the judge has not given any reasons or justification for coming to a conclusion. The only remedy available is to go for an appeal.

Citation: Shri Ahsan Halim v. Supreme Court of India in File No. CIC/SM/A/2011/000789