Two sitting and Thirteen retired Information Commissioners (IC) have approached Chief Justice of India NV Ramana by writing a letter against High Courts which routinely invoked their writ jurisdiction to stay orders passed by ICs under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act).
The ICs have drawn the attention of CJI to a practise of grant of stay to orders by the Commissions. According to Section 23 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, “No court shall entertain any suit, application or other proceedings in respect of any order made under this act and no such order shall be called in question otherwise than by way of an appeal under this act.”
Thus parliament clearly intended that the final appeal will lie with the Information Commissions.
The ICs relied on the case law of Surya Dev Rai vs. Ram Chander Rai and ors. ((2003) 6 SCC 675), in which the Supreme Court made the following observations regarding the powers of certiorari under Article 226 of the Constitution:- "Certiorari, under Article 226 of the Constitution, is issued for correcting gross errors of jurisdiction i.e. when a subordinate court is found to have acted (i) without jurisdiction - by assuming jurisdiction where there exists none, or (ii) in excess of its jurisdiction - by overstepping or crossing the limits of jurisdiction, or (iii) acting in flagrant disregard of law or the rules of procedure or acting in violation of principles of natural justice where there is no procedure specified, and thereby occasioning failure of justice."
The Letter highlights the provision of Article 226(3) of Indian Constitution. Article 226 (3) of the constitution clearly lays down that where a stay has been obtained without the participation of the respondents, the High Court shall dispose of the application within a period of two weeks from the date on which the petition for vacation of the stay is made. If this is not done, the stay stands vacated. This is not being implemented across the nation. We request the apex court to reiterate this point.
Through the letter, the ICs requested the CJI to treat this letter as a suo motu PIL and issuing appropriate directions to make RTI effective in line with the Constitution and the law passed by Parliament.
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