Officials misusing Section 8 of RTI Act to deny information

From refusing to disclose property details of civil servants or the number of Ujjwala beneficiaries, public information officers are misusing Section 8 of the RTI Act, which exempts disclosure of personal information that would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless it is in the larger public interest, writes RAJA MUZAFFAR BHAT reporting from Srinagar.

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ANY personal information not related to any public activity or interest or which can invade the privacy of an individual cannot be disclosed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application unless the Central public information officer (CPIO) or the state PIO is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.

In a recent judgement, the Delhi High Court (HC) too mentioned Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005, which bars making such information public unless it is in the larger public interest.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh dismissed an appeal related to an RTI application seeking the names of fathers and addresses of the appointees to the multitasking staff of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The Bench observed: "The release of this information will cause an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individuals. No larger public interest justifies the disclosure of residential addresses of the selected candidates as well as their fathers' names."