The Kerala High Court has held that the legal opinions given by the Advocate General (AG) to the State government are exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(e) of The Right to Information Act, 2005. The court made the order while quashing a State Information Commission’s order directing the State government to disclose the legal opinions given by the Advocate General to the State government regarding the appointment of Senior Counsel in the SNC Lavalin case.
The court, while allowing a petition of the State government, observed that the Advocate General was the adviser of the government. There might be delicate and sensitive issues, in which the government wanted the opinion of the Advocate General. Those were confidential communications between the State government and the Advocate General. The legal opinions given by the Advocate General to the government should always be confidential and that was protected under Section 8(1)(e) of the Act.
