The division judge bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice C.T. Ravikumar of the apex court in the case of Anjali Bhardwaj Vs CPIO, Supreme Court of India (RTI CELL) held that as no final decision was taken which was culminated into a final resolution drawn and signed by all the members of the Collegium, the same was not required to be disclosed in the public domain and that too under the RTI Act.
BRIEF FACTS
The factual matrix of the case is that the RTI application was preferred before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Supreme Court of India seeking the decision taken on the meeting of the supreme court. However, the prayer of the petitioner came to be turned down. The petitioner preferred the present appeal before the first appellate tribunal under the RTI act, 2005. The First Appellate Authority rejected the said appeal by observing that as such there was no final decision(s) taken in the Collegium meeting held and there was no final decision which culminated into the resolution and therefore, in absence of such resolution the information need not be supplied. The second appeal also came to be dismissed. Furthermore, the decision of the learned single judge in dismissing the writ petition has been confirmed by the division bench of the High Court.
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner has contended that the decisions which were taken, were required to be uploaded in the public domain and the decisions which were taken by the Collegium in the meeting were required to be informed and the particulars of which are required to be given under the RTI Act. It was further stated that the petitioner relied upon the article published on the website of Bar and Bench wherein it was mentioned that one of the members of the Collegium stated that he was disappointed that decision taken in the meeting was not uploaded on Supreme Court’s website. Thereafter, it was submitted that everybody has a right to know the decision(s) taken by the Collegium even as per the earlier Resolution of the Supreme Court, by which, it was resolved that the decision(s) taken by the Collegium shall be uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website.
COURT’S OBSERVATION
The hon’ble court held that from the subsequent Resolution passed by the Collegium, it appears that as such no final decision was taken on the elevation to the Supreme Court. Some discussions might have taken place. But unless and until, a final decision is taken after due consultation and on the basis of such a final decision a final resolution is drawn, whatever discussions had taken place cannot be said to be a final decision of the Collegium. The actual resolution passed by the Collegium only can be said to be a final decision of the Collegium and till then at the most, it can be said to be a tentative decision during the consultation. It is to be noted that a final decision is taken by the Collegium only after due consultation. During the consultation if some discussion takes place but no final decision is taken and no resolution is drawn, it cannot be said that any final decision is taken by the Collegium. Collegium is a multimember body whose decision embodied in the resolution that may be formally drawn up and signed. When in the subsequent Resolution , it is specifically mentioned that in the earlier meeting though some decisions were taken but ultimately the consultation was not completed and concluded and therefore, the matter/agenda items was/were adjourned. Therefore, as no final decision was taken which was culminated into a final resolution drawn and signed by all the members of the Collegium, the same was not required to be disclosed in the public domain and that too under the RTI Act. Whatever is discussed shall not be in the public domain. As per the Resolution only the final resolution and the final decision is required to be uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website.
CASE NAME- Anjali Bhardwaj Vs CPIO, Supreme Court of India (RTI CELL)
DATE- 09.12.22
CORUM- Justice M.R. Shah and Justice C.T. Ravikumar
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