The Central Information Commission has observed that the husband is not entitled to seek the bank account details and the information of Income Tax Returns (ITR) filed by his wife through an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
The appellant, Pawan Kumar Saluja contended that he is seeking information about his legally wedded wife, Mamta Arora and therefore, the CPIO should have invoked Section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005.
The respondent on the other hand opposed the application and said that the bank account details and the information of Income Tax Returns is personal in nature and therefore, they have claimed exemption under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005.
They also submitted that Section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005 can only be invoked if the CPIO intends to disclose the personal information and therefore, once the CPIO is satisfied that the information is to be denied under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005, Section 11 is not required to be invoked. They stated that prima facie no larger public interest is involved in the matter and hence, the CPIO did not intend to disclose this information.
The Information Commissioner, Neeraj Kumar Gupta opined that in the absence of any larger public interest in the matter, the appellant is not entitled to seek information regarding bank details and income tax returns of his wife which is exempted under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005.
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