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

Afzal Saab

I agree with you, and would add to what you posted.

An "Activist" is a person who intentionally promotes or IMPEDES
change. (source wikipedia)
So an RTI activist is one who uses RTI process with that purpose.

Sarbajit

On 3/8/12, Mohammed Afzal <mohdafzal1963@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>>>
>