By: Younis Ahad
In democracy like India the guardian and protector of one’s rights is the judicial system.It is imperative to have this institution transparent and independent particularly in our country, India.The phase of 1975 emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi was worst period for the institution of judiciary, all fundamental rights were snatched and way to Supreme court of India was blocked. The debate nowadays is going on whether judiciary should be brought under Right to information Act 2005 or not. well in this regard the Delhi High Court has handed down a landmark judgement dealing with fledging right to information. It held that the office of the chief justice in India was a public authority and therefore are subjected to the Act, information held by CJI about judges’ assets could be requested through an RTI application. Some commentators while commenting on this matter said that it will be detrimental to the independency of the judiciary but some oppose the same, well it is a matter of great discussion ,the demand that it must be disclosed i.e. the appointments of judges in other words it should be made to the public how they are appointed in name of the public interest ,the assets and source of their income should be made to public as well.
It is pertinent to note down that RTI is a potent tool in the democracy , It is used to get information from the authorities .In the words of justice Ravinder Bhat that, “RTI was a powerful beacon which illuminates unlit corners of state activity and whose of public authority which impact citizens daily lives to which they previously had no access”. people in India believe in democratic institution in which one of the pillars is judiciary, the political class of the society must be kept away from meddling in the independency of this relied institution. India is regarded as largest Democracy in the world, questions are nagging why only India although there exist other states also. The answer is that a large no. of people participates in the election process and also other factors that makes it so. The justice delivery system i.e. courts are free from any inference whether it is from legislature or executive, this approach also makes India unique in this regard. The expression largest democracy is dubious i.e. the guarantees given by the constitution are restrained or curbed for instance the document guarantees right to religion, the ground situation is before us how are politicians igniting fire in the name of religion even Govt is unable to curb this tragedy , the end of my argument is that one section of society ,their rights are infringed and on the other hand another section of society is being made pleased for self-interests. However, constitution provides equality and the painful part of this whole story is the courts are being influenced by the high rank of politics.
The supreme court has done a good job by brining political class in the ambit of the RTI Act by rejecting their right to privacy. In PUCL (2003) and Lok Prahari v. Union of India 2018 a smaller bench of the court held that politicians should disclose their source of income. Remarkable judgement!!!!
The idea to apply RTI Act on judiciary is fair and significant but it has to be ensured that the independency should not be affected in one way or the other. The scope of power of judiciary as defined by the Indian constitution should be maintained in every angle. The political impression on judiciary that could harm it, it is obligatory for the executive to adapt the principle of non-interference. To protect the said institution is need of hour because it is the judiciary which comes to rescue whenever rights are infringed or conflict arises between organs of the Government.
Writer is a law student from Kashmir law college.
