Thursday, November 14, 2019

‘Office of Chief Justice of India comes under RTI Act’ 

Transparency, accountability go hand-in-hand: SC Bench
 
14/11/2019 , legal correspondent, NEW DELHI 




The office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is a ‘public authority’ under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi declared on Wednesday.

The main judgment of the Constitution Bench authored by Justice Sanjiv Khanna said the Supreme Court is a “public authority” and the office of the CJI is part and parcel of the institution. Hence, if the Supreme Court is a public authority, so is the office of the CJI.

Justice Khanna, who shared his judgment with CJI Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta, observed that “transparency and accountability should go hand-in-hand”. Increased transparency under RTI was no threat to judicial independence, he held.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, in his separate and concurring opinion, eloquently observed that “judicial independence is not secured by the secrecy of cloistered halls”.

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