The Supreme Court on Monday directed all 25 High Courts across the country to set up online Right to Information Act portals within the next three months, in order to deal with applications related to the RTI Act.
The Apex Court further directed the Registrar Generals of High Courts to seek directions from their respective Chief Justices for establishment of such portals for district judiciary.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice J.B. Pardiwala passed the order on a petition seeking online RTI portals for all High Courts and district courts.
It said information should be passed on to the Secretary Generals of High Courts for administrative directions from the respective Chief Justices. Same directions should be sought from the Chief Justice for the district judiciary, added the Apex Court.
The Supreme Court, while taking into account that it had already set up such a portal, directed the High Courts to follow suit.
Earlier, the top court of the country had sought response of the States on the matter.
The Bench today noted that 18 States had filed their replies.
Taking in account the fact that only Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa High Courts had established website for RTI, while the Karnataka High Court was using the state government’s portal, the Apex Court lamented that even after a lapse of 17 years, some High Courts were still waiting to operationalise the websites for this purpose.