CIC sets deadline for details on appointment of Himachal CJ

The Central Information Commission has hit again at the higher judiciary by giving the Justice Department a months deadline to make public...

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has hit again at the higher judiciary by giving the Justice Department a months deadline to make public files,documents,records on the appointment of Justice Jagdish Bhalla as the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh in February 2008.

Dismissing the departments contention that appointment files of judges in the higher judiciary was exempted from disclosure under the Right to Information Act,2005,Information Commissioner A N Tiwari confirmed that such information was liable to be disclosed and did not attract any of the exemption provisions in the Act.

The department is now liable to provide copies of complete documents comprising correspondence exchanged between the Union Law Minister and other constitutional authorities and notes at Union Law Ministry together with file-notings on appointment of Justice Bhalla as CJ,Himachal Pradesh.

The Commissions order also includes the disclosure of the appointment file earlier moved when the then President A P J Abdul Kalam had returned the file of Justice Jagdish Bhalla for transfer to another state and the file notings on the movement of an RTI petition based on which the decision has been arrived at by the transparency body. The decision comes on the RTI appeal filed by S C Agarwal last year following a reply from Ramesh Abhishek,Joint Secretary,on April 15,2008 that the documents sought were not meant for the public eye.

Sources in the Law Ministry said the Commissions order would be challenged in the High Court.