Solicitor General G E Vahanvati told the High Court that he has already replied to the query of the RTI aspirant Subhash Chand Agrawal who sought as to how many judges have declared their assets as per the 1999 resolution passed by the Supreme Court. Mr Vahanvati told the Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar that all the sittting judges of the Supreme Court have filed details of assets to the CBI but the larger issue remains as to how far the judges are accountable under the RTI Act. There is no doubt that the CJI is a public authority under the RTI act but the larger question is, because you are a judge, you are accountable to whom, to what extent, in what manner, has to be decided, Mr. Vahanvati said.There are some administrative issues which are not in the public domain and how far the judiciary can answer the question of the RTI aspirant, Mr Vahanvati said. After the submission, the Delhi High Court referred the matter concerning the question of whether the Chief Justice of India's office comes under the RTI act, to a larger bench which will hear it on November 12 and 13.
