New Delhi, May 04: The Supreme Court has refused to disclose the details of the proposed foreign visits of the Chief Justice of India, which were later cancelled, saying it will be a breach of personal information.
Replying to an RTI application filed by S C Agrawal, the Supreme Court Registry said that information was exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.
The section cited by Chief Public Information Officer Raj Pal Arora says: “Information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.
“Provided that the information which cannot be denied to Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person,” it said.
Agrawal had sought information about the proposed visit of a high-level delegation comprising CJI K G Balakrishnan, Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Attorney General G E Vahanvati to Georgia University from April 2 to 4 to participate in a discussion.
He had asked for the copy of the invitation by the Dean, Rusk Centre for International Legal Studies at University of Georgia to the Chief Justice of India, copy of requisition by CJI or his office for a foreign-trip to visit the University.
He had also asked for the copy of a caution-letter against the proposed visit by Secretary (West) Vivek Katju in External Affairs Ministry along with inputs from Indian consulate at Atlanta and letter of opting out of the proposed visit by the CJI.
–PTI