CJI under RTI Act: A rare case where Supreme Court ruled against itself
India TodayDeclaring that "transparency doesn't undermine judicial independence", the Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi today rejected the contention of the Supreme Court that had challenged a Delhi High Court judgment bringing it under the ambit of the Right to Information Act. After receiving two setbacks in the Delhi High Court in 2009 and 2010 over an order by the Central Information Commission, the Supreme Court had approached itself seeking relief in the RTI case. The Supreme Court's argument in the Delhi High Court was based on the premise that declaration of assets to the CJI was "personal information" of the judges and hence not covered under the RTI Act. While the matter was being heard by the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court - in a full court meeting, passed another resolution making declaration of assets by the judges in public "voluntary". The Supreme Court approached a bigger bench of the Delhi High Court against the single-judge verdict in the RTI case.