Status of the complaints against judges & Chief Justice of India sought under RTI
16 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) act seeking the complaints received in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Supreme Court and High Court judges including the copies of all related documents. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided some information about the status of the complaints received against some judges including the then Chief Justice of India. He also stated that except for the complaints against the Chief Justice of India, the rest had been examined and closed as nothing substantial was found in those. He further stated that the complaints against the then Chief Justice of India had been forwarded to the various branches of the CBI for taking necessary action.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant wanted to know about the action which was eventually taken by the various branches to which the complaints against the then Chief Justice had been forwarded. The appellant also submitted that the PIO should have provided the copies of the related documents too.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the PIO to provide the photocopies of the file noting relating to the examination of the complaints against some of the judges and the decision to close those complaints to the appellant. In respect of the complaints against the then Chief Justice of India, the Commission directed the PIO to either collect the information from their respective branches and inform the appellant about the status of those complaints at present or transfer the RTI requests to the PIOs of the relevant branches to respond to the appellant directly, clearly stating the present status of those complaints along with the photocopies of all relevant documents generated in this regard, such as, the file noting and correspondence.
Citation: Mr. Subhash Chandra Agarwal v. Central Bureau of Investigation in File No. CIC/SM/A/2011/001757
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/648
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission