Judicial proceedings beyond purview of RTI

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In a landmark decision, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has
ruled that judicial proceedings of all courts and tribunals are beyond
the purview of the Right to Information Act.

"...a judicial
authority must function with total independence and freedom. Should it
be found that an action initiated under the RTI Act impinges upon the
authority of that judicial body, the Commission will not authorise the
use of the RTI Act for any such disclosure requirement," a full bench
headed by Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said in its
22-page order.

Terming any intrusion in regard to judicial work
as "unnecessary", the bench noted "judiciary is independent and all
judicial authorities including all courts and tribunals must work
independently and without any interference insofar as their judicial
work is concerned".

The order came on an application of
Delhi-based Chartered Accountant Rakesh Kumar Gupta, who had sought
from the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) copies of minutes as
maintained by members of its bench in an Income Tax assessment case of
Escorts Limited and had also asked for inspection of the case records.

The
matter which was taken up with the CIC following ITAT's denial of the
information, was contested by the tribunal on the ground that as per
relevant rules of Income Tax Act, such copies of its orders could only
be provided to the concerned assesses.

The tribunal further
contended that Escorts Limited had "strongly objected" to such
inspection of the records which contained their IT assessment details