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A Supreme Court Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy has raised the bar for transparency in high places by maintaining that the offices of all constitutional functionaries, including that of the Chief Justice of India and Governors, should be brought within the ambit of the RTI Act. Though the issue of whether the RTI Act should apply to the CJI office is pending with a Constitution Bench, it is for the first time that two judges have publicly expressed an opinion in favour of it. 

Bringing the CJI under the Act has some desirable and some not-so-desirable implications. It would mean giving public access to reasons behind judicial appointments or rejections, why a particular judge has been selected or ignored, who said what for or against a judge's elevation. Making such information public would embarrass the judge not considered suitable for a higher post and the collegium members making the appointments would be circumspect in expressing their views in writing. But this would answer the charge of opacity levelled against the collegium system. Justices Mishra and Roy are of the opinion that there is nothing for the CJI to hide. They have not accepted the Solicitor General’s contention that as the constitutional authorities discharge sovereign functions, they should be exempted from the RTI Act. The Central Information Commission has declared the CJI office as public authority in order to bring it under the RTI Act.

No less significant is the move to extend the RTI reach to the Governor's office. If this happens, it would curb politicking by Governors. They would be under pressure to dredge up sound reasons before sending a report to the Centre recommending President's rule in a state. Support for the move has now come from the Supreme Court Bench which is clearly in agreement with the Bombay High Court’s order to the Goa Raj Bhavan to make public the Governor’s report on the political situation in the state in July-August 2007. Courts are doing their bit but the Centre appears less enthusiastic. The BJP talks of making political funding transparent but joins other parties in resisting RTI access to sources of their funding.