CIC asks apex court for information on judges’ elevation
By IANSWednesday, November 25, 2009
NEW DELHI - The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Supreme Court to reveal information about the elevation of three high court chief justices to the apex court superseding the seniority of three others.
The action came on a Right to Information (RTI) application of activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, who sought to know how were Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice A.K. Ganguly and Justice R.M. Lodha elevated and appointed to the Supreme Court, superseding Justice A.P. Shah, Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice V.K. Gupta.
Supreme Court judges are selected by a collegium of the five senior most judges of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice of India.
However, the court refused to entertain Agrawal’s plea, saying that the information sought is neither maintained nor available with it.
The applicant approached the first appellate authority, which also denied him the information. Agrawal then approached the CIC.
Stating that the “appointment of justices is decidedly a public activity conducted in the overriding public interest”, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah in his Nov 24 order said: “The information sought by appellant will now be provided to him within 15 working days.
