Information about husband without any NOC from him

Appellant sought certain information about inquiry report about Ganeswar Behera which was denied under section 8(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 claiming that the required information relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest. During the hearing before CIC, the Appellant submitted that she had sought information related to her husband but no information was provided to her. Ganeswar Behera was present in the hearing along with the Appellant and upon being queried by the CIC, he gave his ‘no objection’ to the Public Authority if the information related to him is parted with the Appellant. The CIC found no infirmity in the initial reply of the PIO, as the Appellant in her RTI application and first appeal has nowhere mentioned that the information sought is related to her husband and Ganeswar Behera has no objection in parting his information to her. The CIC directed the PIO to re-examine the RTI application and give information to the Appellant as per the documents available on record.

Comments

An individual should ideally file an application himself/ herself rather than asking the spouse to file an application. In case the latter is resorted to, a no objection certificate should be attached along with the initial RTI application.

Citation: Rosalini Behera v. East Coast Railway, CIC/ECRBH/A/2023/107864; Date of Decision : 12-04-2024