During the hearing, the Appellant reiterated that he could not find any such information in the Supreme Court website. On further enquiry from the respondents, we noted that the desired information, or at least part of it, was available in the Supreme Court of India, Practice and Procedure, a Handbook of Information, a publication of the Supreme Court of India. It appears the CPIO had, by mistake, referred the Appellant to see the Supreme Court Rules 1966 instead rather than the above Handbook. In chapter 10 of the Handbook, the eligibility conditions and procedure for accessing legal aid have been described. According to this, any citizen whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 50,000 can seek legal aid. Free legal assistance is also provided to various categories of the deprived and depressed sections of the society. However, it has been made very clear that no legal aid would be available for a variety of cases including matters of defamation, malicious prosecution, perjury and, in contempt of court etc. We understand that this Handbook is also available in the Supreme Court website under the link 'publications'. It is also a priced publication, available for sale to the general public not only in the Supreme Court of India itself but in all leading legal bookstores. We hope that with the above information, the Appellant can now either find out the publication in the Supreme Court website itself or procure it from any bookstore of his choice.1
The Appellant was present.
On behalf of the Respondent, the following were present: i) Smt. Smita Vats Sharma, CPIO
ii) Adv. Arijit Prasad
Chief Information Commissioner : Shri Satyananda Mishra
2. We heard both the parties.
3. The Appellant wanted to know if there was any provision for legal aid to persons below poverty line for filing public interest litigations in the Supreme Court of India. The CPIO had referred him to the Supreme Court website and to see the Supreme Court Rules 1966 in order to find out the information. CIC/SM/A/2013/000410
Claiming that he did not find any such information in the Supreme Court website, the Appellant had preferred an appeal. The Appellate Authority dismissed his appeal by claiming that the information was available in their site.
4. During the hearing, the Appellant reiterated that he could not find any such information in the Supreme Court website. On further enquiry from the respondents, we noted that the desired information, or at least part of it, was available in the Supreme Court of India, Practice and Procedure, a Handbook of Information, a publication of the Supreme Court of India. It appears the CPIO had, by mistake, referred the Appellant to see the Supreme Court Rules 1966 instead rather than the above Handbook. In chapter 10 of the Handbook, the eligibility conditions and procedure for accessing legal aid have been described. According to this, any citizen whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 50,000 can seek legal aid. Free legal assistance is also provided to various categories of the deprived and depressed sections of the society. However, it has been made very clear that no legal aid would be available for a variety of cases including matters of defamation, malicious prosecution, perjury and, in contempt of court etc. We understand that this Handbook is also available in the Supreme Court website under the link 'publications'. It is also a priced publication, available for sale to the general public not only in the Supreme Court of India itself but in all leading legal bookstores. We hope that with the above information, the Appellant can now either find out the publication in the Supreme Court website itself or procure it from any bookstore of his choice.
5. The appeal is disposed off accordingly.
6. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties. CIC/SM/A/2013/000410
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against application and payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the CPIO of this Commission.
(Vijay Bhalla)
Deputy Registrar
CIC/SM/A/2013/000410
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Central Information Commission
Mr. Aseem Takyar vs Supreme Court Of India on 6 August, 2013
Central Information Commission, New DelhiThe Appellant was present.
On behalf of the Respondent, the following were present: i) Smt. Smita Vats Sharma, CPIO
ii) Adv. Arijit Prasad
Chief Information Commissioner : Shri Satyananda Mishra
2. We heard both the parties.
3. The Appellant wanted to know if there was any provision for legal aid to persons below poverty line for filing public interest litigations in the Supreme Court of India. The CPIO had referred him to the Supreme Court website and to see the Supreme Court Rules 1966 in order to find out the information. CIC/SM/A/2013/000410
Claiming that he did not find any such information in the Supreme Court website, the Appellant had preferred an appeal. The Appellate Authority dismissed his appeal by claiming that the information was available in their site.
4. During the hearing, the Appellant reiterated that he could not find any such information in the Supreme Court website. On further enquiry from the respondents, we noted that the desired information, or at least part of it, was available in the Supreme Court of India, Practice and Procedure, a Handbook of Information, a publication of the Supreme Court of India. It appears the CPIO had, by mistake, referred the Appellant to see the Supreme Court Rules 1966 instead rather than the above Handbook. In chapter 10 of the Handbook, the eligibility conditions and procedure for accessing legal aid have been described. According to this, any citizen whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 50,000 can seek legal aid. Free legal assistance is also provided to various categories of the deprived and depressed sections of the society. However, it has been made very clear that no legal aid would be available for a variety of cases including matters of defamation, malicious prosecution, perjury and, in contempt of court etc. We understand that this Handbook is also available in the Supreme Court website under the link 'publications'. It is also a priced publication, available for sale to the general public not only in the Supreme Court of India itself but in all leading legal bookstores. We hope that with the above information, the Appellant can now either find out the publication in the Supreme Court website itself or procure it from any bookstore of his choice.
5. The appeal is disposed off accordingly.
6. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties. CIC/SM/A/2013/000410
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against application and payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the CPIO of this Commission.
(Vijay Bhalla)
Deputy Registrar
CIC/SM/A/2013/000410
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