Supreme Court tears into practice of ‘sealed cover jurisprudence’

‘Please do not give sealed cover reports in this court’, says CJI

Two separate Benches of the Supreme Court on Tuesday tore into the "sealed cover jurisprudence" practised by the government in courts.

The court was critical about how the government and its agencies file reports in sealed envelopes directly in court without sharing the contents with the opposite party. This is usually done on the ground that the contents are highly sensitive in nature, and may injure even national security or "public order". Another reason given by State agencies, mostly in money laundering cases, is disclosure would affect ongoing investigation.

Being kept in the dark about the material contained in a sealed cover report, the petitioners are crippled in mounting a defence, not knowing what they are supposed to defend against. At times, their cases, mostly involving fundamental rights like personal liberty, are dismissed on the basis of the secret contents ensconced in the sealed covers.

"Please do not give sealed cover reports in this court. We will not accept it," Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana admonished a counsel in a criminal appeal filed by a man against the Bihar government.

The CJI's remarks were recounted by senior advocate Dushyant Dave to a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud later in the day as soon as the hearing began on the government ban of Media One channel.

"I am very averse to what is called the 'sealed cover jurisprudence'," Justice Chandrachud reacted.

The Centre, in the Media One case, had come with its files to hand over to the court in a sealed cover. The court asked why the government could not disclose the files to the channel. It kept the issue open for examination.