Third Party can access Judgment Copy, Papers under Court Rules, Not RTI Act, Says Supreme Court [Read Judgment]

Less than four months after a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court opened the office of the CJI to scrutiny under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, another bench of the Supreme court on Wednesday ruled that court documents such as copies of judgments & pleadings can be obtained only if court rules permit it, & not under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

“The information is held by the HC as a trustee for the litigants in order to adjudicate upon the matter & administer justice. The same can't be permitted by the third party to have access to such personal information of the parties [litigants] or information given by the govt in the proceedings. Lest, there would be misuse of process of court & the information & it would reach unmanageable levels,” the bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, A S Bopanna & Hrishikesh Roy said.

The bench upheld Rule 151 of Gujarat HC Rules, which allows access to certified copies of judgments, orders & pleadings to a third-party — or those not party to a case — only under the order of an officer of the court.

While Right to Information (RTI) Act doesn't prohibit seeking such information, the petitioner sought the information under the statute, instead of the High Court rules. “In the absence of inherent inconsistency between provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act & other law, overriding effect of Right to Information (RTI) Act would not apply,” the Supreme court held.

As per the rules, on filing of application with prescribed court fees stamp, litigants are entitled to receive copies of documents/judgments, etc. Third parties are not given copies of judgments & other documents without the assistant registrar’s order. The registrar, on being satisfied about the reasonable cause for seeking the information/certified copies of the documents, allows access to the documents.

Bombay, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka & Madras among other High Courts have similar provisions for furnishing information or certified copies to third parties.

In a unanimous decision in November last year, a five-judge bench had said that “transparency doesn't undermine judicial independence” while bringing the CJI office under RTI.

In Wednesday’s decision, the bench did not refer to the Nov 2019 decision &, instead, relied on a 2017 decision of Delhi Hih Court, in which the court had denied information to a petitioner on why his special leave petition was dismissed. In practice, Supreme Court doesn't give reasons for dismissing an appeal. If admitted, notice is issued to the parties & the case is heard in detail.

“Since the issue before us is the HC Rules vis-a-vis the Right to Information (RTI) Act, we do not propose to refer the various observations of the case…” the bench said.

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Citation : 2020 Latest Caselaw 236 SC, CHIEF INFORMATION COMMISSIONER vs. HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT