This is one problem litigants across the country face when they try to procure certified copies of court orders. Their applications get stuck in red tape and they have to wait for months to get the copies. In many cases, officials summarily refuse to give the papers, saying the matter is sub-judice.But an order passed by the Central Information Commission (CIC) may bring relief to litigants; it said citizens can use the Right To Information route to get even certified copies of court papers.
The case came up for hearing after RTI applicant N Venkatesan asked for certified copies of a judgment from the office of the Delhi district and sessions court. But the court public information officer (PIO) rejected the RTI application. The applicant then filed a first appeal but here, too, he met with disappointment.
But the CIC order, passed by Shailesh Gandhi, said a citizen could use any process for accessing information and that process included the RTI Act. “If Parliament wanted to restrict the citizen’s rights, it would have been stated in the law. Nobody else has the right to constrain or constrict the rights of the citizen. It is a citizen’s right to use the most convenient and efficacious means available to him,’’ the order said.
The CIC also said that the PIO’s contentions—that the applicant did not disclose whether the information .
