CIC Directs CPIO To Provide Generic Details Of Gross Income Of The Husband For Claiming Fair Amount Of Maintenance

The Information Commissioner, Saroj Punhani, has observed that the details or copies of income tax returns and other personal information of third parties need not be disclosed to the appellant. However, in litigation where the issue involved is the maintenance of the wife, the information relating to the income of the husband no longer remains confined to the category of personal information.

The Appellant filed an online RTI application relating to her husband for the assessment years commencing from the assessment year 2013–14 to the assessment year 2020–21 to defend her matrimonial court case pending in the court. The RTI application was filed to claim a fair amount of maintenance for herself and her minor daughter under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005; the Hindu Marriage Act, 1954 etc.

The appellant has relied on the decision of the coordinate bench of the CIC in the case of Rahmat Bano, in which the disclosure of the gross income was allowed to the estranged wife on the ground of sustenance and livelihood of the family.

The CPIO reiterated the denial of the information and stated that the third party had categorically denied the disclosure of the information related to him. The Appellant may be legally wedded to the third party, but within the ambit of the RTI Act, she is a third party and therefore the information cannot be provided to her.

The CIC has issued directions to the CPIO, Office of Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Jamnagar with respect to the disclosure of generic details of the net taxable income or gross income of the husband to the wife concerned.

Case Title: Ambika Bhatia Versus CPIO

Citation: CIC/CCITA/A/2021/609436

Dated: 11/08/2022

Click Here To Read/Download Order