Times
of India: New Delhi: Tuesday, 12 August 2014.
The Gujarat
government has turned down an RTI query seeking details of the wealth of the
chief minister and the council of ministers claiming it is not in the
"larger public interest".
The move is
in sharp contrast to that of the Union government which has made facts related
to assets and liabilities of its council of ministers public since 2011 and
Supreme Court judges who have voluntarily disclosed their wealth.
Mumbaikar Anil
Galgali had filed a RTI query seeking information about the assets and
liabilities of the CM and the council of ministers over the past 5 years. He
also sought to know about action taken by the CM on those who had failed to
file their wealth declaration.
Terming the
refusal as "ridiculous", Galgali filed an appeal with appellate
authority and deputy secretary (cabinet) in the state's general administration
department, BJ Brahmabhatt.
Former chief
information commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah described the state
government's stance as "retrograde and foolish".
Public
declaration of ministers' wealth has seen patchy implementation in other
states. While Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have made some of the
information public, many others have not.
In reply to
the query, Gujarat government's under secretary (cabinet) & public
information officer PV Patel said, "The information sought cannot be
furnished since information available to a person in this fiduciary
relationship and the information sought is personal information, the disclosure
of which has no relationship to public authority ..."
He further
quoted section 8(1)(e) and section 8(1)(j) of RTI Act for denial of information
saying the disclosure would cause unwanted invasion of privacy of the
individual and was not in larger public interest.
Patel also
quoted a 2012 Supreme Court order in the Girish Deshpande vs AB Lute case where
the court held that income tax returns fall under "personal
information".
The order
further states, "The details disclosed by a person in his income tax
returns are 'personal information' which stand exempted from disclosure under
clause (j) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, unless involves a larger public
interest and the central public information officer or the state public
information officer or the appellate authority is satisfied that the larger
public interest justifies the disclosure of such information."
Former information commissioner in the CIC
Shailesh Gandhi said, "The order is bad in law. However the SC has given
such a judgment that I believe does not follow the RTI Act, leaving public
information officers with little choice but to deny such applications."
Habibullah
had taken the decision that assets of the council of ministers and even Supreme
Court judges should be made public. "How can an elected government claim
right to privacy? If the Union ministers and even the Chief Justice of India
can make disclosures about their wealth how can public servant of a state claim
right to privacy? The public has a right to know," he said.
All elected
representatives have to disclose their wealth to the Election Commission (EC).
A 2009 CIC order ruled that the information was in public interest and should
be made available to as many people as possible. However, CIC does not have
jurisdiction over states.
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