Supreme Court Dismisses PIL Seeking Online RTI Portal For Supreme Court, Says E-Committee Looking Into It

The Supreme Court, on Friday, dismissed a petition seeking online RTI Portal for Supreme Court. The matter was heard by bench comprising Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, Justices Ravindra Bhat and P.S. Narasimha.

The PIL sought directions to the respondents including the Supreme Court through its Secretary-General, Supreme Court's E-committee and the National Informatics Centre to set up an online RTI Portal in a time-bound manner and argued that the Supreme Court of India, despite being a "public authority" under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act 2005, had not created such a portal since the enactment of the RTI Act.

At the outset, CJI Lalit remarked that–

"This is the brief which the E-committee of the Supreme Court is looking into. These are rights which definitely flow in favour of somebody but that is the technical advancement which is being undertaken by the courts all over the country. It is a process which is going on. Perhaps, I think, in the process, 0-100, you cannot achieve that progress in one go. Therefore, we are marching in the direction. These kind of petitions, this is a good exercise, good research but we cannot entertain it."

Accordingly, the bench passed the following order–

"Considering the nature of the relief that is being prayed for, in our view the proceedings initiated under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution may not be the appropriate remedy. We therefore, refuse to entertain this petition. Consequently, the petition stands dismissed." 

The petitioners  had argued in the petition, that Supreme Court's E- Committee had already provided an efficient mechanism for e-filing of petitions but lacked the same when it came to e-filing of RTI applications. According to the petitioners they had already written to the concerned authorities of the Supreme Court to create such a portal, but no action had been taken till date, thereby causing delay and denying access to speedy information and justice.

The petition stated–

"In the current pandemic COVID-19, the entire nation has been constrained in terms of physical movement and accessing post offices for filing of RTI Applications. This is acting as a serious hurdle in accessing information and access to justice and leads to violation of fundamental rights of the citizens, guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) & Article 21 respectively of the Constitution of India." 

It also cited Supreme Court's order in the case of Pravasi Legal Cell v Union of India & Ors. to stated that the Court had recognised the legal mandate of Online RTI Portal for State Governments and issued notice dated 26.08.2019.

Case Title: Ramey Krishan Rana Vs. UOI and Ors.

Click Here To Read/Download Order