Delhi HC Takes Up RTI Plea On Complaints Against Ex-Madras HC Judge T Raja

Delhi High Court asked the Supreme Court to respond to an RTI plea about any corruption complaints against former judge T Raja. RTI activist Saurav Das wants clear answers on judicial transparency.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Delhi HC Takes Up RTI Plea on Complaints Against Ex-Madras HC Judge T Raja – Supreme Court Asked to Clarify

NEW DELHI: On Monday, the Delhi High Court issued a notice in a case where a journalist asked whether the Supreme Court had ever received complaints of corruption or bad behaviour against Justice T Raja, who earlier served as a judge in the Madras High Court.

This legal request was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by journalist and RTI activist Saurav Das. He was represented by lawyer Advocate Prashant Bhushan.

ALSO READ: Judge Fired for Making Lawyers and Cops Do Sit-Ups: MP High Court Upholds Dismissal, Says It Was Due to Poor Performance

Justice Sachin Datta of the Delhi High Court has now asked for a reply from the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Supreme Court.

Earlier, on April 25, 2023, Saurav Das had filed an RTI application. In this RTI, he asked for three specific things:

Whether the Supreme Court received any complaints about corruption or misconduct against Justice T Raja while he was serving as a judge.
If yes, how many such complaints were received?
What action was taken on those complaints?

The CPIO of the Supreme Court, who is an Additional Registrar, denied giving this information. He said that the Supreme Court does not keep such records in the way Das had asked. Das then filed an appeal against this reply, but that appeal was also rejected. So, he took the matter to the Central Information Commission (CIC).

ALSO READ: ED Bombshell: CPI(M) Named in Rs 300 Cr Karuvannur Bank Scam After AAP Liquor Case

In October 2024, the CIC told the Supreme Court’s PIO to look again at the RTI application and give information on how many complaints were received, if any, against Justice Raja. However, the CIC said that the PIO is not required to share any details about what actions were taken based on the complaints.

According to the CIC, “this was personal information” and Saurav Das was not the person who filed any of those complaints, so he didn’t have the right to access that part of the information.

Later, the Supreme Court’s PIO again refused to give any information, even about the number of complaints. The reason given was the same — that the information is not stored in the format that was requested.

Now, Saurav Das has gone to the High Court, saying that the PIO’s refusal is not acceptable.

He told the Court that asking whether the Supreme Court has received any complaint is a very simple question — it only needs a “yes” or “no” answer. He also clarified that he never asked for the information in any specific format.

Das is also not happy with the CIC’s statement that no information should be given about the actions taken on complaints. He believes that such information should be shared with the public.

ALSO READ: President of India Appoints 7 Advocates as High Court Judges After Consultation with CJI: Centre

He strongly argued that:

“Transparency and accountability in the functioning of judiciary are sine qua non for the healthy functioning of our democracy. The Respondent failed to consider that the information sought in point no. 3 cannot be denied to the parliament and State Legislature, and the same information cannot be denied to the public, it concerns the broader public interest in Judicial Transparency and Judicial Accountability,”

-his legal petition said.