Medical expenses of SC judges not to be released under RTI – Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition which sought the release of medical expenses incurred by Supreme Court judges under the RTI Act. The said petition was challenging the order passed by a single judge Bench of the High Court which had decided that medical reimbursements were to be kept out of the purview of the Act because their disclosure did not serve any real public interest..Prashant Bhushan had appeared for the petitioner Subhash Chandra Agarwal before a Division Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Deepa Sharma. The court had asked Bhushan as to what public purpose would be served by releasing this information. The Bench had also observed that the Petitioner had already been provided with a consolidated amount which was apportioned as medical expenditure for the judges..Bhushan had then argued that the money allocated to judges for their medical expenses was appropriated from the public exchequer and therefore, the public had every right to know as to how this money was being spent. He had also submitted that the petition ought not to be treated as a probe into the medical history of each judge and nor should it be viewed as an invasion of their privacy..Appearing for the Respondent, Siddharth Luthra had argued that,.“Although it was too easy for the Petitioner to say that he does not seek details of the medical condition for which the judge was undergoing treatment, but releasing details of their medical expenditure would tantamount to revealing the exact nature of their ailment.”.Luthra had further pointed out that not only would this constitute as infringing their privacy but also violate the Indian Medical Council of Act..Speaking to Bar & Bench, the petitioner Subhash Chandra Agrawal said,.“The purpose behind filing of this petition was to educate the public about how their money was being utilized. During the Sheila Dixit government we had filed an RTI to release the medical records of serving MLAs and the results were astonishing. It came to light that one of the MLA had reimbursed an amount of Rs 1.45 crore towards his medical expenses while there were some MLAs who had not even reimbursed bills running into a few thousand rupees. So if the legislators can disclose their medical expense records, why not the judges?Where more than half of the population does not have entitlement to even basic medical facilities, leave alone getting treated abroad, why should a select few have at their disposal unlimited resources?”.When asked about the Bench’s observation that previously a consolidated figure of medical expenses had been provided to him under an RTI application, Agarwal brushed it aside and said,.“The consolidated figure included the expenses of all employees in the Supreme Court. Disclosure of that information does not serve any purpose of the petition. We plan to move the Supreme Court with a Special Leave Petition in this regard.”