Table of Contents
Namit Sharma v. Union of India
Supreme Court of India · 2012-09-13 · (2013) 1 SCC 745 · ★ Landmark
Qualification & composition of Information Commissions revisited; two-member bench rule later relaxed.
Case details
| Court | Supreme Court of India |
|---|---|
| Decided | 2012-09-13 |
| Citation | (2013) 1 SCC 745 |
| Bench | A.K. Patnaik, S.J. Mukhopadhaya |
| Petitioner | Namit Sharma |
| Respondent | Union of India |
| RTI Act sections | §12, §15, §16 |
| Outcome | Partly allowed |
Outcome
Information Commissioner appointments require judicial benches; subsequently diluted on review.
Ratio decidendi
Information Commissions exercise quasi-judicial functions; initial ruling required judicial-benched two-member panels. Review in 2013 relaxed the strict judicial-qualification requirement.
Keywords
Information Commission, appointment, qualifications, §12, §15
Later rulings that cite this case
- Union of India v. Namit Sharma (Review) (SC 2013)
- Anjali Bhardwaj v. Union of India (SC 2019)
Overruled by / modified by
This ruling has been overruled, modified, or substantially diluted by later authority. See:-
- Union of India v. Namit Sharma (Review) (SC 2013)
Similar cases in the corpus
These rulings have the closest editorial ratio to this case — computed by tf-idf cosine similarity over ratio, keywords and Act sections. Useful starting points if you are researching the same point of law.
- Union of India v. Namit Sharma (Review) (SC 2013)
- Judicial Academies under RTI — CIC (CIC 2020)
- Judicial-delay records — SC (SC 2023)
Related
Editorial summary, not a certified report. The ratio here is an editorial compression. Before citing this ruling in a PIO order, FAA speaking order, or any appellate filing, verify against the full reported decision. RTI Wiki is not a legal service.
Editorial summary · last reviewed 21 April 2026.
Discussion