By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Tuesday said it would hear in open court the government’s plea seeking the review of its verdict directing the government to amend the Right to Information Act to provide for the appointment of people with judicial background on central and state information panels.
The apex court bench of Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar decided to hold the hearing in the open court after they took up the government’s plea for review in their chamber.
The government had moved court Oct 11 seeking the review of the verdict and contended that it could not have directed the government or parliament to amend the Right to Information Act making way for the appointment of retired or sitting judges or people with judicial background on the information panels.
The petition said that the apex court judgment ran contrary to the Right of Information Act.
The apex court by its Sep 13 judgment said: “We are of the considered view that the competent authority should prefer a person who is or has been a judge of the high court for appointment as information commissioners.”
The judgment said: “We are of the considered view that it is an unquestionable proposition of law that the commission is a ‘judicial tribunal’ performing functions of ‘judicial’ as well as ‘quasi-judicial’ nature and having the trappings of a court”.