The Delhi High Court Tuesday stayed a Central Information Commissioner (CIC) order to the Supreme Court registry to maintain data about the period for which judgments are kept reserved.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also sought a response by Nov 22 from Lokesh K. Batra, a right to information (RTI) applicant on whose plea the CIC issued the order to the registry.
The CIC Aug 3 said: ‘We are of the view that the total number of such cases in which orders are reserved should be duly intimated to the general public.’
The apex court’s registry questioned the CIC’s power to direct creation of data, which related to number of cases in which judgments or orders had been reserved.
‘If the document does not exist, there cannot be any right under the RTI Act to obtain the document. Consequently, the direction of the CIC to create compilation is entirely without jurisdiction,’ said the registry in its appeal.
The registry said that the entire data related to pending cases was already put on the Supreme Court’s website, which is updated on a monthly basis.
