Delhi High Court dismisses appeal seeking details of SC Collegium’s December 2018 meeting

RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj in February 2019 had filed an RTI request before the Supreme Court seeking a copy of the agenda, decisions, and resolution of the Collegium meeting in question.

The division bench of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said Wednesday that the single bench order doesn’t call for any interference.

A single bench of the Delhi High Court had on March 30 dismissed Bhardwaj’s petition, saying it finds no ground to doubt the top court’s response that no resolution was drawn in respect of the meeting. No “cogent material” has been placed before it to convince it to take a contrary view, Justice Yashwant Varma had said in the ruling.

While the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) in March 2019 refused to provide the information, the First Appellate Authority held that the Supreme Court Collegium resolution dated January 10, 2019, makes it clear that certain decisions were taken during the December 12, 2018, meeting but since consultations could not be completed, no resolution was formally passed. The Central Information Commission (CIC) upheld the Supreme Court decision.

Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in his autobiography Justice for the Judge had mentioned that the Collegium in its December 2018 meeting had agreed to recommend the names of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, who was then the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, and Justice Rajendra Menon, the then Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, for elevation to the Supreme Court.

According to Gogoi’s book, the decision was kept in abeyance as the news of the elevation of two chief justices was leaked.