Passport, Personal ID Details Can't Be Disclosed To Third Party Under RTI Act: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently ruled that details about passport and personal identification documents cannot be disclosed to a third party under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Justice Sachin Datta referred to various judgments on the issue and said:

“…disclosures which may be sought by a third party under the provisions of RTI act pertaining to passport or any other personal identification document, squarely falls under the ambit of Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.”

The Court was dealing with a plea filed by one Rakesh Kumar challenging an order passed by the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) concerning the issue of his RTI application wherein he sought details about issuance of passport and travel document to a third party.

The information sought was refused to him by CPIO and the first appeal was also dismissed. On approaching CIC, it was ordered that the information on issuance of passport be furnished to Kumar, subject to the condition that he submitted details as required by RPO to trace the information.

Later, an adjunct order was passed by CIC on an application filed by Kumar alleging non compliance of the order.

Kumar had taken exception to the stand of the CPIO that the requisite information could not be provided to him in view of non-maintenance or restriction of records for the relevant period.

Finding no merit in Kumar's contention, Justice Datta noted that the requisite information sought by Kumar was not available with the authority since the relevant records, for the period between 1984 and 1990, had been destroyed as per the extant policy or instructions of the Government of India.

“I also find that the information sought by the petitioner is barred from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005,” the Court said.

It added: “It is quite apparent that the information sought by the petitioner RTI squarely falls within the ambit of Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, and the dicta laid down in the aforesaid judgments, squarely applies in respect thereof. This is quite apart from the fact that in any event, the requisite information is not available on account of non- availability/destruction of records for the concerned period.”

Disposing of the plea, the Court said that in case Kumar has any doubts or further queries in the matter, it will be open to him to take recourse to appropriate measures, as may be available under law.

Title: RAKESH KUMAR v. CENTRAL PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER AND ANR.

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 183

Click here to read order