A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi held that the office of the chief justice of India (CJI) should be under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act as it is a public office.
The majority judgment of the Constitution Bench held that the judicial independence has to be kept in mind while dealing with transparency.
“The judiciary must be protected from surveillance. RTI can be used as a tool for keeping an eye on the judiciary,” Justice Ramanna, who is part of the Constitution Bench was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.
Justice Ramanna, along with Justice Chandrachud authored a separate judgment apart from the majority verdict penned by CJI Gogoi, and Justices Khanna and Deepak Gupta.
Justice DY Chandrachud said, “In any given case, information officer should weigh the public interest Information officer must employ the principle of proportionality. The approach of Bhagwati by SP Gupta should be the standard with which disclosure on appointment process is done,” LiveLaw reported.
