REGISTRAR GENERAL Vs. K.ELANGO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Petitioner has preferred the instant Writ Petition as against the order dated 10.01.2012 in Case No.10447/Enquiry/A/11 dated 10.01.2012 passed by the Tamil Nadu Information Commission, Chennai.

(2.) THE Tamil Nadu Information Commission, Chennai, in Case No.10447/Enquiry/A/11 dated 10.01.2012 has, among other things, observed that 'A perusal of the appeal and the replies furnished by the public authority shows that the appellant has only asked for details relating to the number of subordinate Judges, employees, compliants of bribe and so on in the subordinate judiciary. He has not asked for details of anything which could be termed as Judicial proceedings or part of the Judicial process. During the enquiry it was also confirmed by the Assistant Public Information Officer that these details are received and collected by the Registry of the High Court routinely. Section 4 of the RTI Act very clearly defines the obligation of the public authorities. Most of the information sought for by the present appellant seem to be covered in this section. Such being the case the Hon'ble High Court,Madras, being a public authority, requires to provide access to these information unless expressly prohibited by a Competent forum or exempted as defined under various sections of the RTI Act. It is also observed that the appellant has asked only for statistical details and not names of individuals. Therefore, the argument of "un warranted invasion of privacy of individuals" is very weak and hence not accepted' and resultantly, allowed the appeal by directing the public authority (Writ Petitioner) to furnish the details within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.

(3.) THE Learned Counsel for the Petitioner urges before this Court that the impugned order has been passed in violation of the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 and as such, it is void ab initio.