The Supreme Court has refused to disclose details regarding the decision on elevating Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran to the Supreme Court, which has since been stalled following allegations of land grab against him.
“I write to inform you that the information sought by you is confidential and is exempted under section 8(1)(e) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you have no right to access the said information under section 2 (j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005,” Additional Registrar Raj Pal Arora said in a reply to an RTI application seeking details and file notings of the decision to elevate Justice Dinakaran to the Supreme Court.
Section 8 1 (e) of the RTI Act exempts from disclosure the information under fiduciary capacity and Section 8 (1) (j), exempts personal information from disclosure.
RTI activist Subhash Agrawal had also sought to know whether the Chief Justice of India had consulted his colleagues “conversant with the matters of a High Court”, as recommended by a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court in 1993 on the appointment process, while recommending the name of Justice Dinakaran.
The bench had said, “In matters relating to appointments in the High Courts, the Chief Justice of India is expected to take into account the views of his colleagues in the Supreme Court who are likely to be conversant with the affairs of the concerned High Court”.
The RTI reply said, “you are also informed... the Supreme Court... has stayed the directions of the Central Information Commission for disclosing the information relating to the appointment of judges and the said matter is still pending.”
“Further, as the information is not held by or under the control of the Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India, your request cannot be acceded to under the Right to Information Act 2005,” it said.
Mr. Agrawal had asked whether Justice Markandey Katju, Justice S. Sirpurkar and Justice A.K. Ganguly were consulted by the Chief Justice of India while recommending the name of Justice Dinakaran for his elevation to Supreme Court.
