Only collegium's decision needs to be public, not the discussion: SC dismisses plea seeking details of meeting held in December 2018

The Supreme Court today dismissed the plea challenging an order of the Delhi High Court which had rejected a petition seeking details of the meeting of the Supreme Court collegiums held on 12 December 2018.

The matter was being heard by a division bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar. It was noted by the bench that some discussions happened in the meeting but they were not final decisions. Further, it was noted that the consultation was not concluded and it was adjourned.

The Court said that the final decision is only required to be uploaded on the Supreme Court website and not the discussion which happenes at the collegiums meeting.

The Apex Court was hearing a plea filed by activist Anjali Bhardwaj who had argued that information cannot be denied on grounds that it doesn’t exist.

The plea filed by Bhardwaj stated that the information regarding the appointment of judges cannot be confidential information and is relevant to the public interest.

The plea had assailed a single judge order that had upheld an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) upholding the stance of the Supreme Court that no such disclosure can be made as no resolution has been passed in the collegiums meeting.