The Supreme Court on Monday directed all twenty-five High Courts in the country to establish online Right to Information Act (RTI Act) websites to handle RTI applications.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala further directed registrar generals of High Courts to obtain advice from their respective Chief Justices about the development of such district judiciary websites.
“We direct all High Courts to establish online RTI portals within 3 months from today. High Courts can formulate adequate provisions to facilitate supply of adequate information. Information to be passed onto the secretary generals of High Courts for administrative directions from the Chief Justices (of High Courts). Same directions to be sought from Chief Justice for the district judiciary,” the bench noted.
Since that the Supreme Court had previously established such a site, the order was issued.
“Now that the Supreme Court has done that, we will instruct all High Courts to put up online RTI portals,” the apex court added.
The bench was considering a petition to establish online RTI portals for all High Courts and District Courts.
It had already requested the State’s response.
The top Court observed that 18 states had submitted responses. In addition, the Court remarked that only a few High Courts had online RTI portals.
“Some High Courts are still waiting for the websites for this purpose to be active after a 17-year hiatus. The High Courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa have built RTI websites. Karnataka makes use of the State Government portal,” the bench stated in its order.
As a result, it instructed all other High Courts to follow suit and set up their own RTI portals.
