NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday set aside an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that directed the disclosure of information about the PM CARES Fund to an RTI applicant.
The high court said the information sought by the RTI applicant has been sought from the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Income Tax Department and not from the PM CARES Fund and the department does not treat PM CARES Fund as an authority.
“Since the information sought for by the respondent (RTI applicant) relates to a third party, PM CARES Fund ought to have been heard. Section 11 of the RTI Act prescribes that any information related to a third party can only be divulged after giving notice to the said third party.
“In view of the above, the CIC ought to have followed the procedure specified under Section 11 of the RTI Act before ordering for grant of information as sought for by the respondent herein,” Justice Subramonium Prasad said. The high court allowed the petition filed by the Income Tax authority challenging the CIC’s April 27, 2022 order.
The high court noted that section 138(1)(b) of the IT Act mandates that information relating to an assessee can only be supplied subject to the satisfaction of Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, as the case may be. It added that the court was of the view that “the CIC does not have the jurisdiction to direct furnishing of information, provided for in Section 138 of the IT Act. In any case, even if they had the jurisdiction, the failure to give PM CARES, notice of hearing, would in itself have vitiated the impugned.
The single-judge bench had earlier noted that the issue of whether the PM Cares Fund is a public authority is presently pending before a division bench of the high court.
The respondent, RTI applicant Girish Mittal, had filed an RTI application before the I-T seeking certain information pertaining to an exemption application under the Income Tax Act in relation to PM CARES Fund as well as all the other exemption applications filed before the I-T from April 1, 2019, till March 31, 2020.