By IANS,
New Delhi : Chief Justice Of India K.G. Balakrishnan Wednesday said the decision to appeal against the Delhi High Court’s verdict, bringing his office within the ambit of the Right to Information Act, would be taken by a full bench of the Supreme Court.
“I have not read the judgment. I have only read your valuable (news) reports,” the chief justice said when asked whether the Supreme Court registry would challenge the high court’s ruling before the apex court.
“It would be decided by a full court,” the chief justice said, adding that even the last time (in September 2008) “the full court had decided to go in (for) an appeal” against the high court’s Sep 2 judgment which ruled in favour of declaration of apex court judges’ assets.
The single-judge bench of the high court also had earlier ruled that the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is within the purview of the RTI Act, 2005.
The Supreme Court registry subsequently appealed against that judgment before a division bench of the high court. The division bench headed by Chief Justice A.P. Shah endorsed the single bench judgment.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ruled that the office of the CJI comes within the ambit of the RTI law, and held that judicial independence is not a judge’s privilege but a responsibility cast upon him.
The bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Vikramjit Sen, upholding a single bench order, maintained that accountability of the judiciary cannot be seen in isolation.