New Delhi:
India's most-senior judge is obliged to share information with the public under the Right to Information Act (RTI) - that's the verdict of the Delhi High Court. Disagreeing strongly with what the Chief Justice of India's opinion, the 88-page judgement says, "Accountability of the Judiciary cannot be seen in isolation. It must be viewed in the context of a general trend to render governors answerable to the people in ways that are transparent, accessible and effective.
K G Balakrishnan, the Chief Justice of India, has been opposed to the disclosure of information relating to judges under the RTI Act. The verdict means Balakrishnan will have to disclose his assets. Last year, after considerable pressure, other Supreme Court judges agreed to make their assets public by listing them on the court's website.
The Supreme Court has been arguing that the Chief Justice of India is not covered by RTI. Balakrishnan had argued that this would lead to harassment of judges. But the High Court ruled, "The judicial independence is not a privilege to a judge but a responsibility."
This is in keeping with the opinion expressed by the High Court in September when it first ruled that the RTI does apply to the Chief Justice's office. The Supreme Court had appealed against that order.
On Monday, in an exclusive interview to NDTV's A Vaidyanathan, Balakrishnan said, "Certain information which affects the independence of these RTI is important, just as the independence of judiciary is important. So the independence of judiciary is to protect it. We only want that any information which affects the independence of judiciary shall not be diversed to the public."
Now comes the awkward part. The Supreme Court is expected to appeal against greater transparency. And this appeal will be heard by the Supreme Court.
"Supreme Court lost the case...Chief Justice of India must respect this decision and should not sit on appeal and it is a correct decision," says constitutional expert Rajiv Dhawan.
But it is the Supreme Court which will have the final say on whether its chief is exempt from RTI.