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TMI Blog2014 (1) TMI 1601X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is admitted that the office of the Chief Justice may not be compiling and collating such data received from the Court Masters, it should suffice if photocopies of the reports furnished by the Court Masters are provided to the Appellant. Besides, the disclosure of such information would serve a larger public interest as the litigating public would come to know about the time being taken by the High Court in finally disposing of the cases. It is well-known that the pendency of cases before the courts is one of the major concerns among the people - it would suffice if this information is provided for a period of two years only preceding the date of the RTI application. However, if a cumulative list of such pending reserved orders in the High ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rding the number of cases in which orders had been reserved but not passed even after the lapse of two months or more. On behalf of the Respondent, it was argued that this information was not being maintained in the first place. Secondly, it was also argued that the information regarding such cases was being furnished to the Chief Justice of the High Court in a sealed cover which the office of the Chief Justice held in a fiduciary capacity and, therefore, such information could not be disclosed as exempt under Section 8(1)(e) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. 4. After carefully considering the submissions made by both the parties, we tend to disagree with the above contention of the Respondents. All that the Appellant wants to know i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a timeframe for this information and the Respondents pointed out that Honourable Justice Sikri had been in the High Court for a very long time and compiling information about the reserved orders passed by him or benches in which he had been a member judge would be impossible and would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority, we think that it would suffice if this information is provided for a period of two years only preceding the date of the RTI application. However, if a cumulative list of such pending reserved orders in the High Court is being compiled anywhere in the High Court including the office of the Chief Justice, it would also suffice to provide a copy of that to the Appellant. 6. The case is disposed of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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