Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has held that office of the Chief Justice of India is a public authority under the transparency law, the Right to Information Act.

Cautioning that RTI cannot be used as a tool of surveillance, the top court held that judicial independence has to be kept in mind while dealing with transparency.

“Transparency doesn’t undermine judicial independence,” the Supreme Court said in a unanimous verdict on Wednesday as it upheld the Delhi High Court judgment which ruled that office of the Chief Justice comes under the purview of RTI.

The five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi who retires on November 17, also dismissed the three appeals filed by secretary general of the SC and the Central Public Information officer of the apex court. Other members of the bench included Justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

However, bringing the CJI’s office under the RTI would not undermine the independence of the judiciary, said Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who read out a separate opinion on the case.

“Neither is RTI under Article 19 nor is the right to privacy absolute,” Justice Chandrachud added, saying that all judges and the CJI hold “constitutional positions”.