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CIC order on disclosure of file on Justice Jain's appointment stayed
By IANS,
Apr 24, 2007 - 10:07:41 PM
New Delhi, April 24 - The Delhi High Court Tuesday stayed the Central Information Commission - order to the union law ministry to make public the file on appointment of Justice Vijender Jain as chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Justice B.D. Ahmed stayed the CIC's March 23 order on a petition by the Department of Justice under the law ministry, challenging the CIC order.
The court gave CIC and Subhash Chandra Aggrawal, a Delhi resident, who had sought from the CIC the information under the Right to Information Act, time till May 24 to respond to the government's petition.
Questioning the validity of the CIC order, the government counsel Rajive Mehra submitted, 'The CIC's order is contrary to the provision under section 8 -- of the Right to Information Act and the government is not obliged to disclose this information.'
'Disclosure of such information is not necessary in terms of provisions of the above mentioned section of the RTI Act,' said Mehra in the petition.
'Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the council of ministers, bureaucrats and other officers regarding judicial appointment come under the section 8 of the Act,' said the government's petition.
'The conversation between the President and Prime Minister could not be parted with as it was covered by section 8-- of the RTI and Article 74 of the constitution,' the petition said.
The CIC had on March 23 ordered government to make public a file on the appointment of Justice Virender Jain as chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The order had given the department of justice a month's time till April 22 to disclose to Aggarwal 'all file notings and opinion of the Supreme Court Collegium's member judges on the appointment file'.
Jutice Jain's appointment as chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court triggered controversy after President A.P.J Abdul Kalam had last October returned the file for his appointment to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, raising some queries.
The president's queries reportedly pertained to the divided opinion of the Supreme Court's collegium on the appointment of Justice Jain.
Besides the notings, the CIC has also directed the department to disclose to Aggarwal 'the correspondence between the president and prime minister' on the issue of the appointment of Justice Jain.
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