The Supreme Court on Monday directed all high courts to set up RTI websites within three months, adding that online facilities will considerably facilitate the fulfilment of the objects of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said to help people access information on the apex court, it has already set up a portal for filing RTI applications in November last year. The bench, also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, stressed that online facilities would facilitate the fulfilment of the objects of the RTI Act.
Hearing a plea seeking direction to the Registrars General of all high courts to operationalise online RTI portal, both for the high courts as well as the district courts, the top court said though the Act was enacted in October 2005, after a lapse of 17 years, online web portals are still to be operationalised by some of the high courts.
It was informed that high courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha have already set up web portals for the purpose. It also noted that the Karnataka High Court is using the website being set up by the state government. The top court said it is of the view that such an exercise be carried out by all the high courts in the country no later than within a period of three months from today.
As the district judiciary is under the administrative control of the high courts, the top court asked the Registrars General of high courts to take administrative directions from the Chief Justice.
The bench said high courts will be at liberty to utilise the resources of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the purpose, which will provide all logistical and technical assistance.
