By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday reiterated the administrative autonomy of the high courts across the country, saying it does not have supervisory jurisdiction over them.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan reiterated the high courts’ administrative autonomy while refusing to entertain a lawsuit for directions to them to frame uniform guidelines for providing information as per the provisions of the 2005 transparency law.
“We cannot give general directions to the high courts for framing rules in this regard. It is the prerogative of the high courts to frame rules,” said the bench, which also included Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice Dalveer Bhandari.
“We do not have supervisory jurisdiction over the high courts. Each high court is an independent body and you cannot have a wholesale direction. The high courts are not our subordinate,” said the bench.
The apex court rejected the argument by advocate Kamini Jaiswal that varied rules framed by the high courts were defeating the objective of the Right to Information Act, 2005, aimed at bringing transparency in the state’s functioning.
Appearing for the petitioner, the Public Cause Research Foundation, an NGO, Jaiswal contended that rules framed by the high courts were not in consonance with the aims of the Act.
The bench also rejected Jaiswal’s argument that the high courts being its arms, the apex court can direct them to frame uniform guidelines for dealing with pleas for information under the new law.
The bench advised the advocate to challenge individual high courts’ administrative rules before them judicially instead of challenging them in the apex court.
It clarified that the apex court can only make a judicial review of the high courts’ rulings.
With the court not inclined to entertain the public interest lawsuit, the advocate withdrew the petition.