Need Help: Personal matter

[ummervayyaprath]

I am state govt employee-kerala-i am working as junior superintendent-aletter recieved yesterday(7-10-08)to my office p.i.o seeking information about me and my wife as follows

1-to give the details of land and property possessed
2-bank balance
3-gold ornaments deposited in the bank locker
4-copy ofthe land and property statement that i submitted to my controlling officer which by rule is kept sealed

whether this information is to be given to the applicant whose intention is only to make trouble

[DineshK]

All the information asked by PIO is of confidential nature and can not be provided to any one.

Section 8(j) of RTI act 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... can not be provided unless it is in larger public interest.

Also PIO is not suppose to disclose your personal details to "third party" without your consent.

[colnrkurup]

In such cases,the third-party procedure is to be followed under the RTI Act among others, Section 11(1) of the Act. ie., A public authority is required to consult the third-party, who might have provided the information in confidence to the public authority, and then make a determination about disclosure of the information especially in the context of the exemptions in Section 8(1) as spelt-out in Section 11(3) of the Act. A reading of sub-sections (1) and (3) of Section 11 of the RTI Act makes it clear that a procedure about consulting the third-party in writing is to be followed in a matter which is covered by these sub-sections of Section 11. It is also clear that the only reason why a third-party related information cannot be disclosed to a petitioner is the fact that the third-party objects to the disclosure and that the PIO / AA accede to those objections and decline to disclose the information to the petitioner.

In case you need more information after reading the the above provisions of the RTI Act, please feel free to come to this forum

[sandeepbaheti]

Originally Posted by ummervayyaprath

whether this information is to be given to the applicant whose intention is only to make trouble

His intention may be to reveal underlying corruption.

[colnrkurup]

To me, it appears that someone in his office wants to establish that he has assets disproportional to his and his wife's known sources of income. After-all, we donot form premature opinions and our aim is to spread the powers of RTI tool. The end-product depend on truth and the calibre of the tradesman.

[ravikumar_108]

As a rule, a government employee has to declare his "Assets and Liabilities" Declaration to his employer (Government).
And "Asset and Liablitiy" declarations can be accessible to a third party through RTI. Afterall, public servants are expected to be honest and their assets and source of income should be known to the public.

[taurus]

The PIO can furnish only those info which he possesses. In your case he may not possess all the info except sl no. 4, viz. the property declaration that you have submitted to the PA. There are differing views whether the complete declaration can be provided for an info seeker or only those portions which may not cause undue invasion of privacy could be provided. For example the PA may reveal how many houses you have declared, without giving the exact location of the same, and its value. Similarly for land etc. This may be done even without your consent.