Plea for IT details of Balakrishnan's kin rejected

The Hindu; KOCHI, February 22, 2011,

Former Chief Justice of India,
K.G. Balakrishnan.

After rejecting an application under the Right to Information Act seeking the income tax return details of the former Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, the Income Tax Department has refused to disclose similar details with respect to his son, two daughters, two sons-in-law and brother.

The Public Information Officer at the Chief Commissioner's office here rejected the application pertaining to his son-in-law, P.V. Sreenijin, and daughter Sony (the ‘third party') as they had disapproved of such disclosure. The officer also refused to disclose the income details of K.G. Bhaskaran.

Information with respect to the three was rejected on the ground that it was of a personal nature and protected under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. The requests were referred to them as required under Section 11(1) of the Act and they disapproved of the disclosure.

“It is clear that Income Tax returns are personal in nature and it is also third party information exempted under Section 8(1)(d), 8(1)(e) and 8(1)(j),” the officer said. He added that Central Information Commission had in 2009 ruled that income tax information was of a personal nature and was not ‘disclosable' in terms of Section 8(1)(j). Moreover, the applicant had not presented evidence that the information sought was in the ‘larger public interest.'

The applicant, T. Balachandran of Kochi, said he would appeal against the rejection.

With respect to another son-in-law, M.J. Benny, daughter Rani and son K.B. Pradeep, the Department rejected the application on the ground that information with respect to them as provided by the applicant was insufficient. Mr. Balachandran said he would file a fresh application with respect to the three persons.