http://newindianexpress.com/nation/article1237348.ece
SC, HC rules to prevail over RTI: CIC
By Tanu Sharma / ENS - NEW DELHI
21st September 2012 10:59 AM
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has underlined that when it
came to disclosure of certified copies of judgments or judicial
records, rules framed by the Supreme Court or High Court, if any, in
this regard would take primacy over the Right to Information Act.
However, those rules made by judiciary shall not be used to create
more exemptions for not disclosing certain information, the Commission
held.
Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra on Thursday clarified
if a judicial order or a document was sought by making a request under
the RTI, rules framed by the court concerned shall apply. "In many
cases in the past, we have already held that the provisions of the RTI
Act would not override the rules framed by the Supreme Court of India
and the High Courts in the matter of disclosure of certified copies of
judicial records," the CIC held.
In other words, since those rules had already prescribed a mechanism
for providing information to the citizens, such information could not
be obtained under the RTI Act, Mishra said while finding no infirmity
with the decision of the Chief PIO of the Allahabad High Court. The
Lucknow Bench of the HC had refused to part with copies of number of
records relating to pending appeals of one Mohd Akram, presently
lodged in Central Jail of Varanasi.
The CPIO denied the information not under any provision of the RTI,
but by referring to the Allahabad High Court (Right to Information)
Rules.
The CPIO's order was that Akram could obtain desired certified copies
of judicial orders by following the procedure laid down under the
Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952, and not under the RTI Act.
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