Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, has once again asserted that the office of Chief Justice of India is not covered under the Right to Information Act (RTI) and the discussions taking place in the Supreme Court collegium on the selection of judges for superior judiciary cannot be made public.

In the meantime the Supreme Court registry is most likely to file an appeal against the Delhi High Court judgement dated January 12, 2010 in the Supreme Court within a day or two. A three judge bench of Delhi High Court, comprising Chief Justice A P Shah (since retired), Justices Vikramjit Sen and S Muralidharan had ruled that the office of Chief Justice of India is not exempt from the RTI Act.

The High Court rejecting the contention of Supreme Court that such course will affect the independence of judiciary, had noted that independence is not a privilege to a judge but a responsibility. The Supreme Court in its appeal, which is to be filed before itself has contended that the office of Chief Justice of India, cannot be brought under the preview of RTI Act, as it may create problems for the higher judiciary at the hands of unscrupulous litigants and such a course may adversely affect the functioning of the judiciary as judges cannot be brought under excessive scrutiny.

The apex court which will be represented by the Attorney General of India, G E Vahanvati has also prayed for the stay of the operation of the High Court judgement till final disposal of the appeal. The apex court has also prayed to set aside the impugned judgement of the High Court. It is worth mentioning here that there have been serious differences between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister favours some amendments in RTI Act to protect judiciary from unnecessary harassment by the litigants and RTI activists, while Ms Gandhi was opposed to any amendments in the act.