RTI reveals that Punjab & Haryana High Court Rules do not have preamble
30 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to information (RTI) Act with the Punjab & Haryana High Court seeking information about the Collegium of Judges which had framed the Rules and Orders presently in use by the High Court with a copy of the draft rules. He also wanted the preamble and the objects and the reasons especially in respect of chapter 12 of volume 1 of the High Court Rules and Orders dealing with execution of decrees. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that they did not have the desired information with them since the rules had been framed long back in 1919 when the High Court was located in Lahore and they did not have any such records from which the desired information could be found out. The PIO also denied the preamble and the objects and reasons stating that the Rules did not have any of these.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant argued that that these documents must be provided to him because without the preamble and the objects and reasons, these Rules did not make much sense. The respondent reiterated that he did not have any such document with them and thus nothing of the kind could be given to the appellant.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the issue is whether the High Court has in its possession any material record relating to the information sought. The Commission rejected the appeal holding that there is no such document containing the desired information and the PIO cannot be compelled to invent one.
Citation: Mr. Kul Bhushan Jain v. Punjab & Haryana High Court in File No.CIC/SM/A/2011/002753
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/684
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission