SC misses deadline to give information on judges' assets

The supreme court (SC), having missed the September 30 deadline to give details of asset declaration by its judges, has said that information in that regard could not be given as an appeal against the Delhi high court decision has been "kept ready for filing".

"This is to inform you that an appeal against the judgment of the learned single judge dated September 2, 2009 in writ petition number 288 of 2009 has been kept ready for filing," the apex court informed RTI applicant Subhash Chandra Agrawal through a letter.

Rajpal Arora, additional registrar at the SC, wrote that the appeal could not be filed since the Delhi high court has been on vacation and the registry is closed.

"Therefore, the appeal will be filed as soon as we are in a position to do so," he said.

Earlier, the Central Information Commission (CIC) had held that the office of chief justice comes under the ambit of RTI Act and it should provide information to any applicant exercising his right under the law, a decision challenged by the SC in Delhi high court.

The high court rejected the SC's plea, ruling that information held by the office of chief justice should come under the RTI Act.

Justice Ravindra Bhatt upheld the CIC order to provide information pertaining to asset declaration by SC judges, sought by the applicant by September 30.