Ownership of revolver – Is such information exempt under RTI?
7 Jan, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Delhi Police seeking information regarding action taken on his complaints against Jangid Welfare Society. He also referred to a particular person and wanted to know whether he had a licensed revolver and if yes, the details thereof. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided some information but denied the information regarding the licensed revolver under sections 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; and 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. of the RTI Act stating that the information sought consists of information given in confidence to the law enforcement authorities and consists of personal information which does not seem to have any larger public interest.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that on the directions of the First Appellate Authority (FAA), the PIO had provided a copy of the enquiry report and informed the appellant that his RTI application had been transferred to Licensing Branch for providing the information directly to the appellant. The PIO, Licensing provided information to the appellant stating that person is not holding any arms license.
View of CIC
The Commission rejected the appeal observing that requisite information as per record and permissible under the RTI Act has been provided to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. Ram Avtar Sharma v. Delhi Police in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001736
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/940
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission