NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday restored a government rule requiring apex court and high court judges to keep the home and external affairs ministries in the loop when travelling abroad, even on private visits.

The Supreme Court today asked the registrar of Chhattishgarh High Court to allow an NGO, which alleged irregularities in the 2008 civil judges exam there, to inspect answer sheets of 60 successful candidates.

'Loyal' bureaucrats are being appointed as information commissioners at the Centre and State transparency panels, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday, saying it's order for judicial members in the commissions would make them independent and free from government influence.

Votaries of transparency law told the Supreme Court that its direction for appointing people from judicial background as members of the Central and state information commissions was "legally not correct" and would lead to "frustrating" the whole objective of the RTI Act.

A total of 65,703 cases are pending in the Supreme Court till November this year, out of which 6,445 cases have been pending for more than five years, Law and Justice Minister Ashwani Kumar told the Rajya Sabha today.