An active and energetic judicial system is a symbol of a pro-active nation which aims at identifying and resolving the basic issues keeping in view the social objectives. Indian Constitution assures political justice along with social and economic justice. By its innovative pronouncements, Indian judiciary and the promising Preamble of the Constitution have brought confidence in the minds of the citizens that there shall be no denial of any political, social or economic justice. A judicial system is a dispute resolution system and it must be recognized as a “service” which provides consumers expeditious and effective resolution of these disputes it offers a mechanism for the enforcement of rights and obligations of individuals.

However, just like any other system, even a judicial system is not devoid of drawbacks or flaws. Transparency of a system towards the public is an extremely essential part that aids in building trust. One of the major hurdles in the way of judicial transparency in our country is the reluctance of the courts to come under the radar of Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. RTI Act grants any citizen of India the right to seek information from a government body about its functioning with some conditions and exceptions wherever and whenever required.

The Act gives into the hands of citizens a special tool to identify and fight corruption in the system by granting them access to the public information making the entire system almost transparent. Some departments of the government have been granted exemptions from the Act under Section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. and one such exception has been granted to the judiciary of the country, in part (b) of the point 1 under section 8. It states as follows:

“Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen,—

(a) information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;

(b) information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court…”

Section 8 lays down certain exemptions which are subject to a public interest test. The public authority decides whether disclosing such information could increase public interest or withholding the information. In the RTI of 2005, there is no definition of the term public interest. However, while juggling between public interest and privacy, officials should be aware of the Act’s purpose and apply their discretion as far as possible to promote the release of information.[1]