Question: can the information be denied where the third party has no objection even though the information is not of public interest nature

[Alok0562]

In a case of third party information can the information be denied where the third party has no objection even though the information is not of public interest nature?

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[nukebomb]

Sponsorer

RTI is right of each and every indian citizen to get information from any govt department . NO NEED OF ANY PUBLIC INTEREST .

[colnrkurup]

The public interest proviso comes in only in the case of trade or commercial secrets protectdby law as explained in proviso to Section 11(1) of the Act

[Sumit.Jha]

Hi Alok,

In most of the cases CPIOs take excuse of third party information or commercial/trade secret citing section 8 (1) of RTI Act. But If third party has no objection and it is not of trade/personal nature, then CPIO should not refuse revealing the information required. However, any question of 'public interest' comes, then remind them of the last sentence of Sec 8 (1) (j) according to which "...the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person...."

So whether in 'public interest or not' should not be an issue.

Thanks

Sumit

[karira]

Just to clarify several issues raised in this thread:

1. For third party information there is a clear process and procedure to be adopted. Before starting on this process, the PIO should satisfy himself with several points. Please read this Post regarding third party matters:
Applicability and Procedure regarding Sec 11 (Third Party)

2. The PIO can deny any information if any of the subsections in Sec 8 or 9 are applicable. Then too, he must apply his mind and justify as to how that particular subsection is applicable to the present case. Just quoting the section number or quoting the section ad-verbatim is not enough.

3. There is no clause in the RTI Act saying that information which is not in general "public interest" cannot be disclosed. In fact the opposite is true - even if the information is exempted, it must be disclosed if "public interest" is paramount.
Please see: Seeking info? no need to cite reason