New Delhi: The information related to delay
in listing of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme
Court can be given under the Right to Information Act, the
Central Information Commission has held.
The decision by the transparency watchdog came while
hearing an appeal filed by Chennai-based T Jhansi Lakshmi, who
sought to know the details from the Central Public Information
Officer of the apex court for delay in listing her plea.
After carefully considering the facts of the case and the
submissions made before it, the CIC noted that the decision to
list a particular case on a specific day is taken by the
Supreme Court Registry and the entire activity is
computerised.
"Since the appellant had not sought any information by
way of a certified copy of any record and only the reasons for
the SLP not getting listed on a specific day, possibly, this
information could be accessed from the computer database," CIC
Satyanand Mishra said.
Earlier, the CPIO has declined to share the information,
including the reasons for not listing the SLP on a particular
date, saying that the inspection or search of judicial records
could be undertaken only by following the procedure prescribed
in the rules and orders of the apex court implying that the
desired information could not be obtained through RTI.
The respondent also submitted that information about a
particular SLP could be provided only to the parties to the
SLP and not to others on account of the provisions of the
relevant rules and orders of the Supreme Court.
After hearing both the sides, the CIC advised the
appellant "either to approach the Supreme Court under its
rules and orders to know about the reasons for the delayed
listing of the case or make an application under the RTI to
the CPIO".
PTI
