Informer alleges corruption for seeking reward related information from DGIT (Inv)
1 Mar, 2013
Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Director General of Income Tax (DGIT) seeking details of the Notices issued by the Income Tax (IT) Office relating to Tax Deduction Source (TDS) for financial years 2007-2011. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed that their office is working under the administrative control of DGIT (Inv) which is an exempt organization as per the section 24 of the RTI Act.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that a search was conducted on the basis of his information but he has not been given reward as per guidelines laid down. The appellant claimed that he has been given reward of Rs 50,000/- and the amount works out to be much higher as per the guidelines. He alleged corruption in the department. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) relied on a decision of CIC (Appeal no. CIC/DS/A/2011/002958/RM) relating to the DGIT, wherein it was held that the office of DGIT is exempt under section 24 of the RTI Act.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that as per the section 24 of the RTI Act the office of DGIT is an exempt organization and as such the Commission is inclined to uphold the decision of the PIO. However, the CIC ruled that in view of the allegations of wrong doing on the part of Income Tax authorities made by the appellant, a thorough impartial probe is needed in the larger interests of the public authority. The Director General of Income Tax (Inv), Ahmedabad was directed to ensure a thorough probe vis-a-vis the query raised by the appellant to rule out any wrong doing on part of the public authority.
Comments
Ordinarily, the CIC has refrained from ordering for any investigation unless there is some credible evidence to back the allegation of corruption.
Citation: Mr. Jitendrakumar Navnitlal Shah v. Director of IT in File No.CIC/DS/A/2011/004174/RM
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1083
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission