Case Law Details
CPIO, Supreme Court Vs Subhash Chandra Agarwal (Supreme Court)
The information sought by the respondent pertains to (1) the correspondence and file notings relating to the elevation of three judges to the Supreme Court, (2) information relating to the declaration of assets made by judges pursuant to the 1997 resolution, and (3) the identity and nature of disciplinary proceedings instituted against the lawyer and judge named in the newspaper report. The third referral question requires this Court to determine whether the disclosure of the information sought is exempt under clause (j) of clause (1) of Section 8. In arriving at a determination on whether the information sought is exempt under clause (j), it is necessary to (i) determine whether the information sought is “personal information” and engages the right to privacy, (ii) identify, in the facts of the present case, the specific heads of public interest in favour of disclosure and the specific privacy interests claimed, (iii) determine the justifications for restricting such interests and (iv) apply the principle of proportionality to ensure that no right is abridged more than required to fulfil the legitimate aim of the countervailing right. The process under Section 11 of the RTI must be complied with where the information sought is ‘third party information‘. The substantive content of the terms ‘personal information‘ and ‘public interest‘ have also been set out in the present judgement.
The information sought in Civil Appeal No 2683 with respect to which judges of the Supreme Court have declared their assets does not constitute the “personal information” of the judges and does not engage the right to privacy. The contents of the declaration of assets would fall within the meaning of “personal information” and the test set out under clause (j) of clause (1) of Section 8 would be applicable along with the procedure under Section 11 of the RTI Act. In view of the above observations, Civil Appeal No. 2683 of 2010 is dismissed and the judgement of the Delhi High Court dated 12 January 2010 in LPA No 501 of 2009 is upheld.
117. Civil Appeals Nos 10044 and 1045 of 2010 are remanded to the CPIO, Supreme Court of India to be examined and a determination arrived at, after applying the principles set out in the present judgement. The information sought in these appeals falls within the meaning of ‘third party information‘ and the procedure under Section 11 must be complied with in arriving at a determination.
Brother Justice Sanjiv Khanna has observed that:
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