Withhold complaint of ex Guj HC CJ against then CJI: CIC

The Prime Minister's Office has refused to disclose a letter by a former Gujarat High Court Chief Justice to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining against former CJI Justice Altamus Kabir.
The PMO denied the information on the ground that the matter was related to third party information and cannot be disclosed.
The Central Information Commission (CIC) dismissed the plea of Devesh Aniruddhabhai Bhatt, an inmate of Ahmedabad Central Jail, who had sought copies of the letter written by the then Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya to Singh complaining against Kabir.
Bhatt had also sought the copy of the letter forwarded by the PMO to the Supreme Court or Ministry of Law and Justice and certified copy of Prime Minister's order on the letter.

Before the CIC, the PMO claimed that the matter was related to third party information and cannot be disclosed.
"...The third party has refused disclosure of information. The respondent (PMO) further stated that they have denied the information/document sought by the appellant," Chief Information Commissioner R K Mathur said in the order.

He said the action and steps taken by the respondent in dealing with RTI application are satisfactory.
"First Appellate Authority decision is upheld. Commission's intervention is not required in the matter. The appeal is disposed of," he said.
Justice Bhattacharya had reportedly complained that Justice Kabir had allegedly impeded his elevation to Supreme Court as he had opposed the inclusion of the latter's sister as High Court judge.

Justice Kabir had refuted the allegation levelled against him saying collegium of judges have their procedure for choosing a judge and that he had recused from meetings held to decide on his sister.
"As a former member of the collegium in the Calcutta High Court and as a Chief Justice of the state of Gujarat, you are fully aware how the collegium functions and how decisions are taken by the collegium.
"The views of one of the members of the collegium, not even that of the chief justice, has any impact on the ultimate decision that is taken. In your case, the matter was before a collegium consisting of five judges, who took a unanimous decision. The decision was a collective decision and not that of an individual, as you seem to impute," he had said.