LegalAware
LegalAware.ai
EMPOWERING LEGAL AWARENESS

Chief Information Commissioner v. High Court of Gujarat and Another

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 269Decided 4 Mar 2020
Civil Appeal Nos. 1966-1967 of 2020
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice A.S. Bopanna · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

A person who was not a party to certain High Court cases filed an RTI application seeking copies of case documents, instead of applying under the Gujarat High Court Rules (which require a third party to file an affidavit explaining why the copies are needed). The Chief Information Commissioner directed the High Court's information officer to supply the information under the RTI Act. The Gujarat High Court, on its judicial side, set aside that direction, holding that its own Rules already governed the procedure for obtaining such copies, and the Chief Information Commissioner appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court, assisted by an amicus curiae who surveyed rules across High Courts, held that requiring a third party to file a reasoned affidavit for certified copies is not inconsistent with the RTI Act: it is merely a different procedure, not a denial of access. Since the RTI Act's overriding clause (Section 22) only displaces other laws in case of genuine inconsistency, and none existed here, the High Court's own rules (framed under Article 225 of the Constitution) continued to apply rather than the RTI Act. The Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the High Court's order.

Lesson Learnt

The RTI Act does not automatically override an institution's own rules for accessing its records where those rules achieve the same transparency goal through a different, non-obstructive procedure.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

More rulings in Right to Information Law

Right to Information LawDelhi High Court

Sachin Kumar Daksh vs. Director-Admin and Finance & Anr.

The Court held that such personal service/family information of a third party is exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act unless a genuine larger public interest is shown: merely alleging the information involves public funds, or that it would help pursue a "vigilance complaint," is not enough. Finding the application was really aimed at settling a personal/matrimonial score, the Court dismissed the writ petition.

Decided 7 Oct 2026Read case
Right to Information LawSupreme Court of India

Special Police Establishment v. Kamta Prasad Mishra

The Supreme Court examined the SPE's statutory jurisdiction under the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukt Act, 1981, finding it limited to investigating specific corruption-related offences (under the Prevention of Corruption Act and certain Penal Code provisions) and not extending to matters of "intelligence" or "security." The Court held that an organisation can only be exempted under Section 24(4) of the RTI Act if it is genuinely an intelligence or security body, and the SPE's narrow statutory mandate did not meet that description merely because a government notification labelled it so. It therefore struck down the 2011 notification to the extent it purported to exclude the SPE from the RTI Act's coverage, calling it excessive and beyond the scope of Section 24(4). The Court upheld the High Court's judgment directing disclosure of the requested information and dismissed the SPE's appeal, while clarifying it had not examined the notification's effect on a separate agency, the State Bureau of Investigation of Economic Offences.

Decided 15 Jun 2026Read case
Right to Information LawSupreme Court of India

Central Information Commission vs Delhi Development Authority

The Supreme Court held that Section 12(4) of the RTI Act grants the CIC general powers of superintendence, direction, and management of its own affairs, and that framing internal Regulations to organise its Benches and functioning falls squarely within this power. It is functionally no different from any administrative circular or rule that a body needs to manage its own workload. The Court rejected the argument that using the word "Regulations" (rather than "circular" or "guideline") somehow elevated these into invalid subordinate legislation requiring separate statutory backing. Emphasising that administrative bodies like the CIC need operational autonomy to function efficiently and serve the public, the Court set aside the High Court's judgment and upheld the CIC's power to frame such Regulations.

Decided 10 Jul 2024Read case
Right to Information LawSupreme Court of India

State Bank of India vs Association for Democratic Reforms & Ors.

The Court rejected SBI's request for a four-and-a-half-month extension, holding that SBI's own submissions showed the required data was already compiled and readily available, undermining its claim that disclosure required extensive additional time. It directed SBI to disclose the complete details by close of business on 12 March 2024, and directed the ECI to compile and publish this information on its official website by 5 pm on 15 March 2024, along with the interim-order data ECI had separately held in custody during the litigation. SBI was also ordered to file a compliance affidavit from its Chairman and Managing Director. The Court declined to exercise its contempt jurisdiction at this stage, but explicitly warned SBI that it would face contempt proceedings for willful disobedience if it failed to meet the new deadlines.

Decided 11 Mar 2024Read case
Right to Information LawSupreme Court of India

Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr. vs Union of India & Ors.

The Constitution Bench unanimously struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme as unconstitutional. It held that the complete anonymity of political donations violated the voters' right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, since financial contributions to a party can reveal quid pro quo arrangements and policy influence that voters are entitled to know before casting their ballot; the Court found that curbing black money, while a legitimate goal, did not justify a total blackout of information and that less restrictive alternatives (e.g., contribution caps with disclosure) existed. It also struck down the 2017 amendment that removed the earlier cap on how much a company could donate to political parties, holding that unlimited corporate political contributions were manifestly arbitrary and violated Article 14, since companies can influence elections far more than individuals and the removed cap had no adequate substitute safeguard. As a result, the Court ordered an immediate stop to the issuance of further Electoral Bonds, directed the SBI to disclose to the Election Commission full details of every bond purchased and encashed since April 2019 (donor names, amounts, and recipient parties), and directed the Election Commission to publish this information publicly; unencashed valid bonds were ordered returned for a refund.

Decided 15 Feb 2024Read case
Right to Information LawSupreme Court of India

Anjali Bhardwaj vs CPIO, Supreme Court of India (RTI Cell)

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition. It held that a Collegium's discussions during a meeting remain only "tentative" until they crystallize into a final resolution formally drawn up and signed by its members; only such a final, signed resolution is required to be disclosed under the Collegium's own 2017 resolution on transparency. The subsequent Collegium resolution of 10 January 2019 made clear that the consultation process begun on 12 December 2018 had not been completed and no final decision was reached, so there was nothing concrete to disclose. The Court declined to rely on media reports or a Collegium member's press remarks as proof of a "final decision."

Decided 9 Dec 2022Read case