Hailing CJI's office coming under RTI, Milind Deora posts speech from bill's passage

As Supreme Court of India upheld Delhi High Court 2010 order of bringing Chief Justice of India's (CJI) office under ambit of Right to Information (RTI), Congress leer Milind Deora hailed decision. Taking to Twitter, he said that it is a big win for transparency and accountability of judiciary. He also shared his 2005 speech in Lok Sabha wherein he h called RTI Act as a watershed legislation. 

In 22 minutes-long speech, back in 2005, Deora h said that RTI is an empowerment and it will bring great deal of transparency and accountability. Regarding judiciary under RTI, he h said that it will ensure delivery of justice trasparently and will be a step to a better and improved global governance. Comparing and contrasting erstwhile NDA and n UPA government, Deora h said that while NDA saw RTI as 'freedom' of information, UPA sees it as 'right' to information.

Delivering a landmark judgment on Wednesday, Supreme Court upheld Delhi High Court decision bringing office of chief justice of India (CJI) under ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act. A five-judge constitution bench heed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has prounced judgement observing that Office of CJI comes under “public authority”. Or members of bench are Justices N V Ramana, D Y Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna. While Justice Khanna wrote majority verdict, Justices Ramana and Justice Chandrachud wrote separate and concurring verdicts. 

RE: MASSIVE: SC brings CJI's office under RTI, upholds Delhi HC's 2010 order

In a 3:2 split verdict, SC bench said that as per RTI's provision -  CJI falls under definition of public authority. top court ded that Public interest demands transparency and that it does t undermine judicial independence. However, top court said that RTI should t be used as a tool for surveillance. 5-judge bench also said that judicial independence can't be achieved by denying information, ding that independence and accountability goes hand in hand.

RE: Petitioner hails RTI verdict by SC; says 'ors will follow if judiciary is transparent'

top court highlighted that judges are t precluded from rule of law as y hold a constitutional position including CJI. However, apex court underlined that RTI does t fall under Article 19 and refore transparency cant be allowed to run counter to right to privacy. 

RE: RTI's applicability to CJI's office: SC to prounce verdict on v 13

2010 verdict by Delhi High Court

In a path-breaking verdict on January 10, 2010, Delhi High Court h held that office of chief justice of India comes within ambit of Right to Information (RTI) law, saying judicial independence was t a judge's privilege, but a responsibility cast upon him. 88-p judgement was n seen as a personal setback to n CJI, KG Balakrishnan, who has been opposed to disclosure of information relating to judges under RTI Act.  high court verdict was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah (since retired) and Justices Vikramjit Sen and S Muralidhar.

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