Does citizen have the right to access personal information.

[jswami16]

Hi everybody,

I am a new member & my name is swami. Can I get the answers for the following queries:

1. Does the citizen of India can have access to the personal information (revenue details) of other citizen?

2. If the Citizen cannot access, then who has the right to access it?

3. Under what conditions govt authorities can access to personal information of the citizens of India?

It would be of great help if the above issues are explained with reference to a case law.

Please enlighten me on the above issues.

Thanks & Regards,

Swami

[kushal]

Hello Swami, and welcome to RTI India.

Yes, citizen can access personal information of other citizen subject to application of Section 8 (1) (j) & section 11 of Right to Information Act 2005. If information is sought about 3rd party revenue information , the CPIO will give a written notice to such third party of the request and of the fact that the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer , as the case may be, intends to disclose the information or record , or part thereof, and invite the third party to make a submission in writing or orally, regarding whether the information should be disclosed, and such submission of the third party shall be kept in view while taking a decision about disclosure of information .

Disclosure may be allowed if the public interest in disclosure outweighs in importance any possible harm or injury to the interests of such third party . However, disclosure would also attract the provisions of Section 8 (1)(J) of RTI Act which states that

information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority , as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information : Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person.

However, on many of the occasions, the CIC has ruled that revenue details of 3rd party is exempt from disclosure under RTI Act.


Read these previous discussions:

http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/appeal...isclosure.html

[kushal]

Also read this decision of CIC here relevant to revenue details:

IT & Property returns, income tax assessment orders not to be disclosed.

[jswami16]

Mr. Kushal,

Thanks a lot for the information . It was very much benefiting. What is the position for the above questions in countries like USA, UK, CANADA, FRANCE GERMANY. I searched the following web pages and i am unable to locate the exact answers that are backed by proper provisions.

USA: Privacy Act of 1974.
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - UK
http://www.ic.gc.ca/cmb/welcomeic.ns...sToInformation - CANADA
Freedom of information legislation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freedom of information in France: Information from Answers.com - FRANCE

It would be of great help if you could tell the exact location for finding out the information .

Thanks and regards,

swami

[jswami16]

Sir,

This is with regard to the reply sent to me on 26/11/2006. From the reply i have the following query:

If the Income tax department reopens the assessment of an assessee and issues a notice:

1.Does the assessee have the right to know on what circumstances the department is constrained to make the re-assessment?

2.Does the assessee have the right to know on what circumstances the department can scrutinize the revenue details of an assessee for re-assessment?

3.Does the Right to Information Act, 2005 contains any specific provision with respect to above query?

Please enlighten on the above issues with relevant case laws.

Thanks and regards,

Swami

[brijeshbhatt]

Thanks Kushal and Jswami,
With help of your discussion I have been able to educate myself a lot.

[maneesh]

Originally Posted by jswami16

1.Does the assessee have the right to know on what circumstances the department is constrained to make the re-assessment?

Yes, a notice to the applicant is part of quasi judicial process, wherein the assessee is informed that on grounds listed in notice the assessment is proposed to be done afresh. It is an intimation to the party in terms of principle of natural justice to give opportunity to state the assessee view point.

Originally Posted by jswami16

2.Does the assessee have the right to know on what circumstances the department can scrutinize the revenue details of an assessee for re-assessment?

One can know after the assessment is finished on WHAT reasonable basis reassessment was sought. The discretion lies with the department only thing that discreation should not be without reasonable ground.

Originally Posted by jswami16

3.Does the Right to Information Act, 2005 contains any specific provision with respect to above query?

There is no specific provision as this is similar to thousand other cases where in the government exercise the power vested in it by the constitution

[ooom6]

Originally Posted by jswami16
Does the assessee have the right to know on what circumstances the department can scrutinize the revenue details of an assessee for re-assessment?

yes the assesse has rt to know why reassessment is required and he should be heard.

[karira]

Re IT Scrutiny, please also read:

http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/3068-n...ny-policy.html
http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/1368-i...n-rti-act.html
http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/1258-g...t-you-ask.html

[deepblue1983]

Does an rti application asking for a govt. employee's pay-slip amount to "invasion of privacy?"