The Supreme Court of the Indian state of Kerala issued a ruling that declared information contained in government registers public. This was reported by Verdictum.
The court was considering a lawsuit filed by a 71-year-old local resident, which challenged the refusal to provide him with a certified extract from the register of property in court. The plaintiff was a defendant in a criminal case under articles of “criminal assault,” “indecent behavior,” and “intentional infliction of harm.” During the trial, he needed as evidence a certified extract from the register of property involved in the case, but the judicial magistrate refused him this. Then the accused filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the Indian state of Kerala, which ultimately made a decision that could now have widespread consequences.
The court supported the plaintiff, pointing out that restrictions on the provision of information from registers, including judicial ones, can only be imposed if it is officially recognized as confidential. In addition, Judge Bechu Kurian Thomas ruled that data contained in public registers must, in principle, be publicly available. The actions of the judicial magistrate were declared unlawful.
“In the modern era of right to information and transparency, there can be nothing confidential in the property register maintained by a government agency,” the judge ruled.
