The Central Information Commission has dismissed an RTI plea seeking details of income-tax returns filed by the judges of the Supreme Court saying the apex court would not be "holding these details".
"It should be clear that it is not the Supreme Court that would hold information on the income tax returns of High Court judges even at the time of their elevation as Supreme Court judges, coming as they are, from different states in the country," Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said while hearing the plea of an RTI applicant.
Applicant Lal Bahadur had sought to know income tax return details of the judges along with date and amount of returns filed by them at the time of elevation as High Court judges and also date and amount of returns filed at the time of elevation as a Supreme Court judge.
The application was first transferred by the Supreme Court to Law Ministry which again reverted it.
Habibullah said the minister had "erred" in sending the application back to the apex court. He said the ministry should have forwarded it to Department of Revenue for the details.
"The Registry of Supreme Court thus cannot be faulted for having transferred the application that seeks information