On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court dismissed the petition challenging CIC order denying details sought regarding the decisions taken by the Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on December 12, 2018.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Yashwant Varma has passed the order this morning after reserving it earlier this week, the details of which are awaited.
Activist Anjali Bhardwaj had filed an RTI Application for the said details. For the meeting on 12th December, 2018, the SC Collegium was comprised of Former Chief Justice of India Justice Gogoi and other four senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court namely Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice A.K Sikri, Justice S.A Bobde and Justice N.V Ramana.
The Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court turned down the RTI citing Section 8(1) (b), (e), and (J) of the RTI Act.
The First Appellate Authority upheld the decision of the PIO but it held that the reasons given by the CPIO to deny the information were not proper when the decision was appealed.
Aggrieved Bhardwaj at last moved an appeal before the CIC with contention that even if no resolution had been passed on December 12, 2018, a copy of the meeting's agenda and the decisions taken therein could not have been denied without citing any exemptions.
The CIC dismissed her appeal and upheld the Appellate Authority order stating that the final outcome of the meeting dated December 12, 2018, has been discussed in the subsequent resolution of January 10, 2019.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan was representing the petitioner-Activist.
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