Delhi HC seeks SC CPIO's reply on plea for info on ex Madras HC judge under RTI Act

New Delhi, May 26 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the response of the Supreme Court's Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO) on a petition against the denial of information related to any complaints received by the Chief Justice of India or the apex court alleging corruption or improper conduct by a former Madras High Court acting chief justice.
     Justice Sachin Datta issued notice to the CPIO on the plea by RTI applicant Saurav Das and listed the case for next hearing on September 8.
     Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said the Central Information Commission (CIC), while dealing with the second appeal under the Right to Information Act in October 2024, effectively refused to provide the details sought by the applicant with respect to former acting chief justice of Madras High Court T Raja.
     In the RTI application filed on April 25, 2023, before the top court's CPIO, the petitioner sought to know "whether any complaints, whether through letter representation or otherwise, about either allegation of corruption and/or any improper conduct has been received by the Chief Justice of India, collegium, and/or the Supreme Court of India till date for anytime of Mr. Raja's tenure".
     The petitioner also sought the total number of such complaints as well as the action taken on them.
     The petitioner informed that the reply of the CPIO stated that the "information is not maintained in the manner as sought for".
     The petition argued that the denial of information was erroneous because the RTI application merely posed a "yes or no" question which did not require disclosure or maintenance of such information in any particular format.
     The plea said it never was the case of the CPIO that the information would violate the privacy of any third party and the CIC erred in creating a new ground while dealing with the second appeal.
     Stating that there was an overwhelming public interest in ensuring accountability of the judiciary, the petitioner prayed for a direction to the CPIO to provide the information sought by the applicant.
     Justice Raja was appointed the acting chief justice of Madras High Court on September 22, 2022. He demitted office on May 23, 2023.
     The Supreme Court collegium recommended his transfer to the Rajasthan High Court in November 2022. The recommendation was reiterated in April 2023.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)