Are the contents of Tax Evasion Petition disclosable under RTI after the investigation is over?
25 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to information (RTI) Act with Income Tax Department seeking information regarding a Tax Evasion Petition (TEP) filed by him. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under section 8(1)(j), section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; and section 8(1)(g) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; of the RTI Act stating that this was third party information and the third party has objected the disclosure of their personal information. He also informed that the third party had stated that the appellant is his son-in-law and as he had mistreated his daughter, the matter was pending before the court and no personal information should be disclosed to him.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) referred to earlier orders (Appeal No. CIC/DS/A/2011/003539, 000554 and 000555 dated March 19, 2012) and held that once investigation by the competent agency has been completed on TEPs, the appellant should be informed whether the inputs provided by him were found to be true/partially true/false. The Commission directed the PIO to disclose the broad outcome of the TEP to the appellant. The CIC also added that copy of the investigation report as sought by the appellant is not required to be given.
Citation: Mr. Vinod Kumar Mishra v. Income Tax Department in File No.CIC/DS/A/2011/002918/RM
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/676
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission