Delhi High Court refuses to entertain journalists' plea for public access to RTI Act hearings

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a petition which sought directions to widen public access to the hearings of the Central Information Commission (CIC) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act [Saurav Das & Ors v CIC].

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal noted that the CIC and the Supreme Court can be approached in the matter.

The Court was dealing with a petition filed by journalists Saurav Das, Betwa Sharma, Vinita Deshmukh, Kunal Rajnikant Purohit and Mohit M Rao (petitioners).

The Court said that the petitioners can first approach the CIC with a representation to allow the public to physically attend CIC hearings. The CIC was directed to decide on the same promptly.

"Regarding prayer for permitting entry to the general public and journalists physically, we permit the petitioners to represent their cause to the CIC, which shall take an appropriate decision expeditiously," the Court said.

The Court further observed that the issue of allowing litigants and others virtual access to CIC hearings is already pending before the Supreme Court.

The High Court, therefore, suggested that the petitioners join the pending Supreme Court proceedings on this issue.

"We are of the opinion that the petitioners shall be better advised to approach the Supreme Court to avoid multiplicity of proceedings," the Court said while disposing of the petition.

The petitioners moved the Court seeking directions from the High Court to ensure that citizens, including journalists, are allowed to attend the CIC hearings, whether physically or virtually, without needing prior approval or special permission.

The petitioners said that they had already submitted a representation to the CIC on July 24, 2024, asking for public access to its hearings.

However, they alleged that no action was taken on their request. They, therefore, approached the High Court on this issue.

Since the CIC performs important judicial functions, it must also uphold the transparency it expects from others, the petitioners contended in their plea.

It added that in-camera hearings undermined public accountability and obstructed informed civic participation.

The plea was filed through Advocates N Sai Vinod, Madhav Aggarwal and Kanu Garg.

The Court, however, eventually closed the matter after directing the petitioners to approach the CIC and the Supreme Court on the issues raised by them.