Rajasthan High Court upheld the State's decision denying a woman access to her husband's salary details under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The court ruled that such personal financial information cannot be disclosed, protecting privacy over transparency.
Justice Kuldeep Mathur dismissed a plea moved by a wife challenging the rejection of her RTI application."Disclosure of such information, in the absence of any overriding public interest, has no relationship with any public activity or public interest," the Court said.The woman had sought copies of the pay slips and details of the salary paid to her husband, who was employed with the police department in Bhilwara.
However, her RTI application was rejected by the competent authority on the ground that the information sought was “personal” in nature, related to a third party, and was therefore exempt from disclosure under the provisions of the RTI Act. Rajasthan State Information Commission later upheld the decision.
It was opined that information related to performance of an employee or an officer within any organization fell within ‘personal information’. The petitioner had filed the RTI application with the concerned department but she was not provided the details on these grounds. This compelled the wife to approach the High Court.
However, the Court found no illegality in the State’s action in refusing disclosure. In doing so, the Court relied on Supreme Court's ruling in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande vs. Central Information Commission & ors.
In that decision, the top court had ruled that information relating to the performance of an employee or officer in an organisation is primarily a matter between the employee and the employer, governed by service rules, and falls within the ambit of “personal information”.The High Court, thus, found no merit in the present writ petition.Advocate Gopal Lal Acharya appeared for the petitioner.
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