Can information regarding balance sheets of a company be disclosed under RTI?
29 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to information (RTI) Act with the Income Tax Department seeking information regarding balance sheets of a particular company. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under section 8(1)(j) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. stating that it was personal information relating to third party and the third party had opposed giving information to the appellant.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that balance sheet is a public document as defined in the Companies Act and hence it should be provided to him.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) rejected the appeal holding that the income tax returns and other financial assets of the third party are exempt from disclosure under section 8(1)(j) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. of the RTI Act unless a larger public interest is involved.
Comments
Though it has not been pointed out by the CIC, it appears that the case refers to the balance sheet of a private entity as in cases where the documents are already in public domain, there would be no reason to deny the information. In many cases [Mr. Krishan Kumar v. Registrar of Cooperative Societies in Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2010/003380/10993], the CIC has directed to provide attested photocopies of the audited balance sheet. The CIC has consistently held that disclosure of the Balance Sheet of a third party without the third party’s concurrence is wholly unjustified [Shri Anjani Kumar Chiripal v. Commissioner of Income Tax in F.No.CIC/AT/A/2006/00555].
Citation: Mr. Iqbal Hussain v. Income Tax Department in File No. CIC/DS/A/2011/002743/RM
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/688
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission