Reproduced from The Times of India October 31, 2008 pg 17 Now, CIC order review only in courts
Himanshi Dhawan | TNNNew Delhi: In a move that smacks of bureaucratic red tapism, the Central Information Commission (CIC) will no longer allow review of its decisions. A recent change in the CIC (Management) Regulations, 2007, now makes it clear that CIC’s decision can only be reviewed through a writ filed in the high court and Supreme Court.
According to chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, the rules were not in consonance with law. ‘‘We have changed the rules as under law a court cannot review its own decisions. The CIC does not have the review power unless there is an error of law or facts.’’ Habibullah said that applicants had misunderstood the rules and so a correction had been made. Information commissioners admit privately that the number of review applications had begun to rise and this was becoming difficult to handle.
The rule had earlier said that an appellant can make an application to the chief information commissioner for special leave to appeal or review of a decision or order of the case and mention the grounds for such a request. It was left on the discretion of the CIC to ‘‘consider and decide the matter as he thinks fit.’’ The decision has now been restricted to rea — ‘‘A decision or an order once pronounced by the Commission shall be final’’. RTI activists, on the other hand, have cried foul over the changes. Col Lokesh Batra said, ‘‘Now a complainant can no longer ask for special leave to review a decision.’’ Said Subhash Chandra Agarwal who has filed two review petitions that the decision will impact RTI. ‘‘In my application regarding information on Padma awardees, I had asked how it was possible for a jury spread across India to shortlist 100 names from the thousands in just one or two meetings. I had five queries but only one was answered,’’ he said.
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http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15904364654Agarwal said that there should be a provision within the rules for a review by a larger bench. ‘‘This will cut down on litigation costs and also bring about a consistency in the performance of information commissioners,’’ he added.
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Judges can use mobiles in court
HC Dismisses Argument That Judge Didn’t Apply Mind During Court Martial
Dhananjay Mahapatra & Abhinav Garg | TNN
New Delhi: Even in the face of overwhelming evidence against the accused, can a judge be said to have done complete justice if he was found to be sending SMSs during the hearing of arguments in the case?
This question came up before the Delhi high court as a naval officer questioned his conviction in a corruption case. In the face of voluminous evidence against him, the officer raised several grounds before Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul to allege that the trial was vitiated. One of the allegations was that the president of the court martial had not applied his mind judiciously to his case as it was found that during the hearing he had used his mobile phone extensively to send SMSes, though unrelated to the case, to others. After weighing the evidence, which was squarely and conclusively against the officer, Justice Kaul brushed aside all objections raised against the court martial proceedings, upheld his conviction and dismissed his appeal. However, the question remained and would continue to haunt the judiciary and quasi-judicial bodies — can a judge during a hearing use his mobile phone and keep sending SMSes without it affecting his ability to grasp the arguments? Counsel Meet Malhotra, appearing for the court martial convicted M P Verma, produced before the HC voluminous records from MTNL showing the large number of SMSes sent by the president of the court martial proceedings.
He then asked the question: “Can the president of the court martial be said to have applied his mind to the case if throughout the proceedings he was sending SMSs to such a large extent? Does this not exhibit that he gave no attention to the trial?”
Convinced about the guilt of the accused, Justice Kaul was not to be distracted by the SMSs sent by the president of the court martial. He said: “The allegation that the president of the court martial had not applied his mind while holding the trial has not been substantiated.”
“Merely because some SMSes were sent by the president on a particular day or two would not reflect the nonapplication of mind by the president of the court martial, more so when the accused was duly represented by defence counsel who has cross-examined each and every witness throughout the trial and has made all objections whatever available to him while recording of the evidence of those witnesses,” Justice Kaul said.
( Judges consider themselves as superhumans, capable of concentrating on matters, whether while sending SMSs or sleeping ... They believe ordinary humans have no right to doubt their abilities. All this is, because people bow and grovel before them, and repeatedly call them "My Lord" ... IKC )
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