Free
Press Journal: New Delhi: Friday, 31 October 2014.
Details about
finances of a woman cannot be given by a public authority even to her husband
under the Right to Information Act as it is personal information, the Central
Information Commission has said.
According to
Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu, when couples are entangled in legal
disputes such as marital claims or cruelty charges, the privacy of individual
spouse assumes importance in the context of demand for information. He said a
citizen, even if a spouse, has no right to information about deductions and expenditure
from salary, as that would amount to personal information unless it is in
larger public interest.
The
Commission has, however, clarified that such restriction does not apply on the
salary of the wife as such information is mandated to be disclosed under the
provisions of the transparency law. Acharyulu said that while a husband has a
right to know the amount of salary of wife (public servant), information about
her expenditure and loan deductions cannot be given under RTI. “As far as RTI
Act is concerned there is no difference between the spouse and citizen. Right
to privacy is an individual right and within the couple, each can claim or give
up that right,” he said.
The case
related to a couple facing marital dispute in which the husband Dheeraj Kapoor
filed an RTI application seeking to know the salary details, deductions,
expenditure and personal address of his wife at different times which was
denied by Directorate of Health Services.