Chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan today said the "judges will decide" on the response to the CIC direction to the apex court to ensure transparency in the appointment of judges
Chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan today said the "judges will decide" on the response to the Central Information Commission's (CIC) direction to the apex court to ensure transparency in the appointment of judges; while law minister Veerapan Moily skirted his reply.
"Our judges will decide," was all that the chief justice would say when asked by reporters on the CIC's recent direction to the supreme court registry on the issue.
He was speaking on the sidelines of National Law Day celebrations held at the supreme court premises.
Declining to comment Moily remarked, "They have passed an order, what interpretation can I give?
The chief justice also refused to be drawn into a discussion on another direction of the CIC to the apex court registry to disclose within 15 days the name of the Union minister who allegedly tried to influence a Madras high court judge in a pending matter.
"I do not communicate with any of the judges of the high courts," he said, while declining to entertain any further questions on the issue.
The CIC had in one direction held that the appointment of judges is a "public activity" which cannot be withheld from disclosure, and asked the supreme court to make public the records of appointing three justices of the apex court who superseded their seniors.
RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal had sought complete correspondence between authorities concerned relating to appointment of justices HL Dattu, AK Ganguly and RM Lodha superseding seniority of justices AP Shah, AK Patnaik and VK Gupta.
The plea was rejected by the Registry of Supreme Court saying it did not have the information and later pleaded before the Commission that it was held in fiduciary relationship with the Chief Justice of India, hence cannot be given under the RTI Act.
In another direction the CIC had asked the supreme court to disclose the name of the Union minister, who allegedly tried to influence Madras high court judge R Raghupathi in a pending case.
The CIC had also asked the registry to furnish the purported correspondence between the chief justice and the judge.
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