‘Info personal’ is most common reason for RTI plea rejection

Times of India: Ahmedabad: Thursday, 16 May 2024.
The biggest reason proffered by govt departments for rejecting applications for information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, is that the information sought relates to the personal life of a person and divulging the information sought may cause unnecessary interference in the personal life of the person concerned and has no connection with the larger public interest.
The report of the Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) tabled in the last session of the Gujarat assembly, says that 4.74% of the RTI applications made in 2022-23 were rejected. In all, 1,21,490 RTI applications were filed in the year, with 5,759 rejected.

The report singled out three departments where the rate of rejection of applications was higher than others. These are the science and technology department, which rejected 17.95% of all applications, the finance department which rejected 17.06% of all applications and the legal department, which rejected 14.02% of all applications in 2022-23. As many as 536 applications, or 10% of the applications rejected, were on grounds that information sought related to the personal life of person and had no connection to the larger public interest or public activity, or could cause unnecessary interference in the personal life of the person concerned, the report said.
RTI activists said that while applications are rejected by departments on various grounds, the commission has also has adopted a stance where appeals on various grounds are rejected.