Court Cannot Act As Post Office To Collect And Exchange Information: Madras High Court

The madras high court bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy were hearing a petition for directing the Joint Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training and the Secretary of Department of Post to pass appropriate orders giving effect to the recommendations made by the Central Information Commission in 2013.

One of the recommendations made by the commission was to affix postal stamps on the RTI applications in the place of Indian Postal Order or Demand Draft.

The court however found no merits in the petition and dismissed the same. The court stated that the Commission has made only recommendations which cannot by any stretch be taken as a statute so as to give effect. It also stated that only after certain modifications are made in the statutory provisions that the recommendations can be challenged.

The court was also unsatisfied with the fact that the petitioner chose to sleep on these recommendations for almost nine years and has only now filed a petition. The petition is also silent regarding the reason for the delay. The court also highlighted the fact that the petitioner had not tried to find out as to what action was taken by the appropriate authority with regard to these recommendations

"In other words, by way of this public interest litigation, the petitioner wants the Court to conduct a roving and fishing enquiry as to what steps were taken by the respondents based on the recommendation of the Central Information Commission. The High Court cannot act as a post office to collect and exchange information." the court added.

Case title: S.P Muthu Raman v. The Joint Secretary & Anr

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 107

Click here to read/download judgment