Assam Tribune: Guwahati: Tuesday, July 18, 2017.
The State
Information Commission has noted that personal information, which are exempted
under Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, or third party
information, may be disclosed by the SPIOs only if larger public interest
justifies the disclosure of such information, or if the public interest outweighs
any possible harm or injury to the interests of the third party.
This
observation of the State Information Commission came in the wake of an RTI
petition filed by Utpal Das. However, the State Information Commission has
noted that the petitioner did not request for copies of those documents, but
only the names and addresses of all the brides/bridegrooms and sellers and
purchasers of land. The marriage certificates and land sale deeds are personal
information of the contracting parties, besides being third party information
so far as the petitioner is concerned.
In view of
the RTI request by the petitioner for the names and addresses only, the
Commission has directed the Senior Sub-Registrar, Kamrup Metro, to allow the
petitioner to inspect relevant records for perusing only the names and
addresses of the brides/bridegrooms and sellers/purchasers of land for the
period sought for by the petitioner during o ffice hours on a working day
within 15 days from the date of receipt of the order and allow him to note down
such names and addresses as he may like to.
Since the
periods mentioned by the petitioner in his RTI petition are long and the volume
of information is big, the compilation of the information from old records is
likely to disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority and
hence the requirement of any such compilation is dispensed with. If, however,
the petitioner wants certified copies of any particular marriage or land sale
deed, then the SPIO will deal with such request with reference to Section
8(1)(j) and Section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005.
As regards
the RTI petition relating to the names and addresses of the wives and husbands
who got divorce certificates during the period 2006 to 2016, the Senior
Sub-Registrar, Kamrup (Metro) is directed to transfer within five days the
portion of the RTI petition from the date of receipt of the order, to the SPIO
of the Family Court, Guwahati. The SPIO of the Family Court is directed to
dispose of the RTI petition if he receives any, in compliance with the relevant
provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, and the Gauhati High Court (Right to
Information) Rules, 2008 within the stipulated time, according to an official
press release.