Re: [HumJanenge] Delhi High Court fines man for seeking private info under RTI

Sarabjit Saab,

Please correct me if I am wrong, just last week a media person asked me what is the difference between an RTI applicant and RTI activist.

RTI is enacted for better use by any citizen of this country. RTI application filed by any individual doesn't make him an RTI activist. People who use RTI for a public cause can be defined as an RTI activist. Few Black sheep are alway present in all sector of our society. Any RTI application filed with the intention to harass will defeat the very purpose of the sunshine Act.

Mohammed Afzal.

Sent from my iPhone

On 08-Mar-2012, at 12:49 PM, Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb@gmail.com> wrote:

> A good judgment (although must read the actual text).
>
> Now there is additional firm basis for RTI "patriots" like us to state
> that RTI "activists" are blackmailers, vexatious , etc etc.
>
> Thanks Sid for posting this.
>
> Sarbajit
>
> On 3/8/12, Sidharth Misra <sidharthbbsr@gmail.com> wrote:
>> HC fines man Rs50,000 for seeking private info under RTI
>>
>> Irked over "revengeful" litigation pursued by a man against his
>> brother, the Delhi High Court today imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on him,
>> holding that the information on filing sales tax returns, sought by
>> him, were "private" in nature and cannot be spared under the
>> transparency law.
>>
>> "When we examine the present case, we come to an opinion that the
>> information on filing of sales tax returns of a person are duly
>> protected under the Right to Information Act and has rightly been not
>> provided," a bench of Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv
>> Sahai Endlaw said.
>>
>> "The filing of the present appeal against the order of the
>> single-judge bench of this court, which had upheld the order of the
>> Central Information Commission (CIC), was abuse of the process of law.
>> We impose a fine of Rs50,000 on petitioner (Ashok Kumar Goel). The
>> fine would be deposited with the Delhi Legal Services Authority," it
>> said.
>>
>> The bench also made it clear that the fine would be in addition to the
>> cost of Rs25,000 imposed earlier on Goel by the single judge bench of
>> the court.
>>
>> "I am sorry. I will not even allow you to withdraw your petition. You
>> are trying to settle a personal score with your brother that too
>> through the RTI. These are confidential and private information and
>> hence, you cannot be allowed to abuse the process of law. We are
>> passing an order and will impose a cost of Rs50,000 on you," Justice
>> Sikri said.
>>
>> Detailing the sequence of events, the court said the Public
>> Information Officer of Sales Tax department denied the information
>> under the RTI to Ashok Kumar Goel about the sales tax returns filed by
>> his brother Premchand Goel.
>>
>> The decision was upheld by the CPIO, the CIC and the single judge
>> bench and the division bench of the high court.
>>
>> The court said the purpose of the RTI was not to enable a person take
>> "undue" advantage of the law to settle personal scores.
>>
>> "We cannot allow that such information be provided under the RTI. The
>> provisions of the Sales Tax Act and the RTI make it very clear that
>> information about the sales tax returns are "private" in nature and
>> cannot be provided unless a larger public interest was involved," it
>> said.
>>
>> Even the officials of the Sales Tax department can be punished and
>> jailed for leaking such information and hence, the petition required
>> to be dismissed, it said.
>>
>> Source : DNA
>>
>> http://goo.gl/8vv6P
>>