Justice Krishna Iyer faults High Court stance

[colnrkurup]

(The Hindu - 3 July 2008)

The jurist VR Krishna Iyer has said that " the High Court's refusal to give out details of a judge's wealth sought by an individual using the RTI is a violation of the Act.contravention of the Constitution and incompatible with the values of democracy". He added that "Judges are great and powerful and therefore, like Caesar's wife, they must be above suspicion"

The Kerala High Court's PIO had refued to give out details of the assets and liabilities of one of the judges saying that it was personal in natue. The PIO had contented that the information about the judge's assets comes within the purview of Section 8(1)(j) of the Act, the disclosure of which would amount to unwarranted invasion of privacy The official had also said "The public interst, which would have justified the revelation of the information is not specified and hence it is not open to disclosure"

Reacting to the Hight Court PIO's arguement, Mr.Krishna Iyer in a statement said "In a democracy, every instrumentality must be subject to transparency and accountbility. They should have nothing to hide and everything open. The judiciary must not be arbitrary in keeping their wealth or other aspects of life which affect directly or indirectly their performance as a matter of privacy. All are equal and what is arbitrary violates Article 14 as the Supreme Court has held. Again, Article 19 is violated because freedom of expression which is a fundamental right integrally implies freedom of information without which intelligent opinion and sensible expression will be impossible".

Mr.Krishna Iyer continued "Above all, justice by the justices to the people is a social obligation fulfilment of which hold this great class of public authority in sublime esteem. Therefore I, appeal to the magnanimous institution of judicial brotherhood to be above board, never secret and always available for responsib le scrutiny"