New Delhi Mar 30 PTI The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a challenge to the Central Information Commissions order dismissing an RTI appeal seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegiums meeting on December 12 2018 when certain decisions were purportedly taken on elevation of judges to the apex courtThe order was passed by Justice Yashwant Varma on the petition by activist Anjali Bhardwaj In her petition filed in the high court through advocate Prashant Bhushan the petitioner challenged the CICs December 16 2021 order by which her second appeal was dismissed and had sought a direction to the authorities to disclose the available information sought for under the February 26 2019 RTI applicationThe petition had said that on January 23 2019 Justice Madan B Lokur who was a part of the December 12 2018 collegium meeting and retired on December 30 2018 in an interview expressed his disappointment that the December 12 2018 collegium resolution was not uploaded on the Supreme Court websiteHe is quoted as having said Once we take certain decisions they have to be uploaded I am disappointed that they were not In such circumstances in the interest of transparency in the process of appointments in the judiciary on February 26 2019 the petitioner through an RTI application to the CPIO of the Supreme Court sought copy of the agenda decisions and resolution of the collegium meeting held on December 12 2018 the plea had saidAccording to former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogois autobiography Justice for the Judge the names of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog the then Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court and Justice Rajendra Menon the then Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court had received nod for the elevation to the Supreme Court in the collegium meeting on December 12 2018The matter allegedly got leaked after which the issue was kept in abeyance by Justice Gogoi till January 2019 because of winter break which started on December 15 2018 the book saidIn January 2019 a new collegium got constituted after the retirement of Justice LokurThe new collegium in its resolution on January 10 2019 did not clear the names of Justice Nandrajog and Justice Menon for elevation to the Supreme Court according to the bookThe petition has not mentioned names of any judges whose names were allegedly clearedInitially Bhardwaj had filed an RTI before the Supreme Court seeking copies of the agenda decisions taken and resolutions passed in the December 12 2018 meetingHowever the Supreme Court Central Public Information Officer refused to provide the information on grounds that were held to be not proper by the First Appellate Authority FAA and are therefore not relevant the petition had saidHowever while disposing the appeal against the denial by the CPIO the FAA had held that in view of the subsequent collegium resolution of January 10 2019 it was clear that though certain decisions were taken in the collegium meeting of December 12 2018 the required consultations could not be completed Therefore no resolution was formally passed and hence information asked for could not be supplied to the petitioner the petition saidThe court was further told that in the second appeal the CIC also relied upon the January 10 2019 resolution and held that the agenda of the collegiums December 12 2018 meeting was clear from the subsequent resolution of January 10 2019 and the copy of the decision and the resolution of December 2018 did not exist on record in terms of Section 2 f of the RTI Act and therefore could not be supplied to the petitionerThe petition had sought setting aside of the CIC order on grounds that the petitioner has asked for a copy of the agenda of the collegium meeting of December 12 2018 and not a summary or reference thereof PTI ADS DV DV

New Delhi Mar 27 PTI A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the Central Information Commissions order dismissing an RTI appeal seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium meeting on December 12 2018 when certain decisions were purportedly taken on elevation of judges to the apex court Justice Yashwant Varma is scheduled to hear the plea on Monday Petitioner and activist Anjali Bhardwaj in her petition filed in the high court through advocate Prashant Bhushan challenged the CICs December 16 2021 order by which her second appeal was dismissed and urged it to direct the authorities to disclose the available information sought in the February 26 2019 RTI application The petition said that on January 23 2019 Justice Madan B Lokur who was a part of the December 12 2018 collegium meeting and retired on December 30 2018 in an interview expressed his disappointment that the December 12 2018 collegium resolution was not uploaded on the Supreme Court website He is quoted as having said Once we take certain decisions they have to be uploaded I am disappointed that they were not In such circumstances in the interest of transparency in the process of appointments in the judiciary on February 26 2019 the petitioner through an RTI application to the CPIO of the Supreme Court sought copy of the agenda decisions and resolution of the collegium meeting held on December 12 2018 the plea said It is pertinent to mention that according to former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogois autobiography Justice for the Judge the names of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog the then Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court and Justice Rajendra Menon the then Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court had received the nod for the elevation to the Supreme Court in the collegium meeting on December 12 2018 The matter allegedly got leaked after which the issue was kept in abeyance by Justice Gogoi till January 2019 because of the winter break which started on December 15 2018 the book said In January 2019 a new collegium got constituted after the retirement of Justice Lokur The new collegium in its resolution on January 10 2019 did not clear the names of Justice Nandrajog and Justice Menon for elevation to the Supreme Court according to the book The petition has not mentioned judges whose names were allegedly cleared Initially Bhardwaj filed an RTI before the Supreme Court seeking copies of the agenda decisions taken and resolutions passed in the December 12 2018 meeting However the Supreme Court Central Public Information Officer refused to provide the information on grounds that were held to be not proper by the First Appellate Authority FAA and therefore are not relevant it said However while disposing the appeal against the denial by the CPIO the FAA held that in view of the subsequent collegium resolution of January 10 2019 it was clear that though certain decisions were taken in the collegium meeting of December 12 2018 the required consultations could not be completed therefore no resolution was formally passed and hence information asked for could not be supplied to the petitioner the petition said It added that in the second appeal the CIC also relied upon the January 10 2019 resolution and held that the agenda of the collegiums December 12 2018 meeting was clear from the subsequent resolution of January 10 2019 and the copy of the decision and the resolution of December 2018 did not exist on record in terms of Section 2 f of the RTI Act and therefore could not be supplied to the petitioner The petition sought setting aside of the CIC order on the ground that the petitioner has asked for a copy of the agenda of the collegium meeting of December 12 2018 and not a summary or reference thereof Therefore CIC has erred in holding that agenda was clear from subsequent resolution dated January 10 2019 and therefore need not be provided No exception provided under the Act has been taken or given as to why a copy of the agenda cannot be supplied to the petitioner it said The Supreme Court FAA order while citing relevant portion of the collegium resolution on January 10 2019 had said The Collegium comprising the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court viz Justices Madan B Lokur A K Sikri S A Bobde and N V Ramana met on Wednesday 12th December 2018 to discuss the Agenda viz 1 to consider and recommend names for appointment as Judges in the Supreme Court and 2 to consider proposals for transfer of Chief Justices and Judges of High Courts The then Collegium on 12th December 2018 took certain decisions However the required consultation could not be undertaken and completed as the winter vacation of the Court intervened By the time the Court re-opened the composition of the Collegium underwent a change After extensive deliberations on 5th 6th January 2019 the newly constituted Collegium deemed it appropriate to have a fresh look at the matter and also to consider the proposals in the light of the additional material that became available it had said PTI SKV SMN