Supreme Court said- Collegium is multi-member and its possible decision cannot be made public
New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking disclosure under the RTI (Right to Information) Act of the collegium meeting held on December 12, 2018, and noted that the “probable decision” of the multi-member body should be made public. can not be done.
Justice M.R. Shah and a bench of Justice CT Ravikumar said that only the decision signed by all the members of the collegium can be said to be final. The bench said, the tentative proposals prepared on the basis of discussions and consultations held among the members cannot be said to be final unless they are signed by all the members.
The bench said, “The collegium is a multi-member body, whose probable decision cannot be placed in the public domain.” The top court said it could not rely on media reports and interviews of a former member of the collegium And do not want to comment on the statements of the former judge.
The collegium, in a resolution passed on January 10, 2019, noted that in its meeting held on December 12, 2018, only consultations took place on some names, but no final decision was taken. Justice M.B. Due to the retirement of Lokur, there was a change in the members of this collegium.
The apex court gave the above verdict while hearing the petition of RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj. Bharadwaj had moved the apex court after the High Court dismissed his plea seeking disclosure of the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium meeting held on December 12, 2018.
Justice M.B. Lokur was earlier a member of this collegium but due to his retirement, the equation of the collegium changed. In that meeting of the collegium, some decisions were reportedly taken on the elevation of some judges.
