New Delhi, 30 March: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition seeking information on the agenda of the Supreme Court Collegium meeting held in December 2018.
Justice Yashwant Verma said that the news published in the newspapers cannot be evidence and the court cannot take cognizance on the basis of it.
The High Court said that there is no evidence regarding the meeting of the Supreme Court Collegium held on December 12 2018 and hence the agenda of that meeting cannot be disclosed.
The court had reserved the verdict on March 28. The petition was filed by Anjali Bhardwaj. The petition challenged the order of the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) in which the appeal seeking information on the agenda of the Supreme Court Collegium meeting held on December 12, 2012 was dismissed. On December 16 2021, the Central Information Commission rejected the petitioner’s appeal.
It was said in the petition that retired Supreme Court Justice Madan B Lokur had retired on December 30 2018.
In an interview on January 23 2019, Justice Lokur had said that the Collegium meeting held on December 12 2018 was not uploaded on the Supreme Court website. After that, the petitioner sought information about the agenda and decision of the Collegium meeting held on December 12, 2018 by applicant through RTI before the Central Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court on 26 February 2019.
The Central Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court had denied that information. Thereafter the petitioner filed an appeal to the First Appellate Authority here.
The First Appellate Authority dismissed the appeal stating that no such meeting of the Supreme Court Collegium had ever taken place on 12 December 2018. Thereafter, the petitioner appealed to the Central Information Commissioner as the second appellate authority. The CIC also dismissed the petitioner’s appeal.
