The Supreme Court has asked why the chief justice and governors should be kept outside the purview of the Right to Information Act, PTI reported. The apex court said offices of all constitutional functionaries should be under the ambit of the RTI Act.
“Why cannot the office of high constitutional authorities like governor be brought under the ambit of RTI? There should not be anything to hide,” the bench of Justice Amitava Roy and Arun Mishra said.
This is the first time that the Supreme Court has argued in favour of bringing the judiciary under the ambit of RTI Act. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, who appeared for the Centre, contended that since the constitutional authorities discharge sovereign functions, they should be exempted from the RTI Act.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by the Centre challenging a 2011 order of Bombay High Court’s Panaji bench. The court had directed the Goa Raj Bhavan to disclose the governor’s report sent to the president on the political situation in the state in 2007. The information was sought by Manohar Parrikar, who was then the leader of Opposition in the Goa Assembly.
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