RTI seeks income tax details of former CJI, petition rejected

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SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL

18 February, 2011

Public Information Officer of the Income Tax department refused to divulge the income tax details of former CJI Balakrishnan in the spirit of law. The former CJI's firm opposition could mean that there is more than what meets the eye.

EVEN THOUGH the concerned Public Information Officer of Income Tax Department acted strictly in accordance with provisions of the RTI Act by rejecting disclosure of Income Tax details of former Chief Justice of India (CJI) KG Balakrishnan, nevertheless it would have been interesting if the former Chief Justice of India had not objected to the disclosure of these details.

The RTI Act provides for disclosing any information, if public-interest overweighs exemptions listed in section 8 of the Act. The petitioner armed with media-reports about relatives of former CJI accumulating wealth during KG Balakrishnan’s tenure as Chief Justice of India, will find it easy to obtain the information through Central Information Commission, if not from the Appellate Authority in the Income Tax Department.

It may be recalled that mere hesitation to provide an answer to a simple RTI query on whether Supreme Court judges were declaring details of their assets and wealth to Chief Justice of India, led to suo moto declaration of details of their assets and wealth on the Supreme Court website.

If the former CJI has nothing to hide in the income tax details, then he should not oppose disclosure of information. Refusal to do the same would raise suspicions as to why he wants to prevent this information from going public.

It is important that the information regarding his bank account number and PAN number should not be disclosed as this could be misused, as contended by the former CJI.