Supreme Court fully compliant with RTI Act, asks high courts to follow suit

NEW DELHI: It took the Supreme Court 17 years to be fully compliant with the mandate of the Right to Information Act and a bench, headed by CJI DY Chandrachud on Monday asked the 25 high courts to follow suit by setting up RTI portals within three months.
Though the Supreme Court and high courts have already facilitated providing information sought under the RTI Act by citizens through physical writing of applications with requisite fees paid through bank draft or postal order, the mandate of Section 6(1) of RTI Act, 2005, for an electronic mode for RTI queries had remained in limbo for over 17 years since the promulgation of the Act.
Of the 25 high courts, only those in Delhi, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have provided facilities for electronic RTI queries for seeking information. The CJI-led bench, also comprising Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, said since the chief justices of the HCs were the relevant authority to make rules for electronic means to facilitate RTI queries and provision for information, necessary steps would be taken within three months to prepare RTI portals.
The SC said high courts can take necessary logistic support from the National Informatics Centre in setting up the RTI portals for the judiciary in 766 districts.