Medical reimbursement of SC judges exempted from RTI: Delhi High Court

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has held that reimbursements of medical expenses of the Supreme Court judges cannot be disclosed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, saying it does not serve any public interest.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru held that the Central Information Commission (CIC) was in error to direct the Supreme Court Registry to provide the information sought, saying "medical records are not liable to be disclosed unless it is shown that the same is in larger public interest".

"In the present case, the CIC has completely overlooked this aspect of the matter. Further, the extent of medical reimbursement to an individual is also, in one sense, personal information as it would disclose the extent of medical services availed by an individual.

"Thus, unless a larger public interest is shown to be served, there is no necessity for providing such information. Thus, a direction for maintaining records in a manner so as to provide such information is not warranted," the court said.

The court made the observations in its judgement on the plea of the Supreme Court registry against CIC's order directing the apex court to maintain details of medical reimbursement availed of by each of its judges in the last three years to be furnished to information-seekers.

The high court held CIC's order as "erroneous".