AHMEDABAD: In a case related to maintenance of a divorced woman, the Central Information Commission has said that details sought by her on the income of her husband cannot be considered “personal information.”
The CIC ordered Gujarat’s Jamnagar Income Tax Office to provide information related to the husband’s income to his ex-wife free-of-cost.
Ambika Bhatia had sought details of the gross income, not taxable income of her husband, for assessment years 2013-14 to 2020-21 for her pending court case. The information can enable her to claim fair maintenance for herself and her daughter under the Domestic Violence Act and Hindu Marriage Act.
CIC Saroj Punani passed the remarkable order with an observation that IT return details are third-party information and that there was no need to furnish them to any third party. “However, the said case involves a maintenance case. Therefore, information regarding the income of the husband cannot be considered personal information,” Punani said.
Ambika Bhatia, a Jamnagar native, filed an online RTI application on October 21, 2020, seeking information relating to the income tax returns of her husband Sanket Thapar for the assessment years beginning 2013-14 to 2020-21. She wants to defend herself in the case pending in the court and for claiming the fair amount of maintenance for herself and her minor daughter.
Senior Advocate Suraj Shukla said IT returns details were crucial in deciding the maintenance amount that the wife needed to get. “If the applicant gets this information, she can justify the maintenance amount for which she has filed a lawsuit before the court,” said Shukla.
Pankti Jog, who is working with Right to Information Gujarat Pahel NGO, said the Jamnagar Income Tax office cited a Supreme Court case and had denied information to Ambika Bhatia. The office had argued that information related to the third party cannot be given even if the applicant is the wife of the third party. “A legal applicant becomes a third party,” said the Jamnagar IT office. The CIC after looking at various judgments directed the office to furnish information on the “net Income of her husband, free of any cost within 15 days from the date of the order.”
Earlier, amid a rise of RTI applications for divorce and maintenance claims; CIC says that wife cannot seek details of IT Returns of the Husband. The CIC had stated that the details of the IT returns are personal in nature and hence exempted from disclosure to the wife.
CIC goes back on ‘personal info’ owing to maintenance case
CIC Saroj Punani passed the remarkable order with an observation that IT return details are third-party information and that there was no need to furnish them to any third party. “However, the said case involves a maintenance case. Therefore, information regarding the income of the husband cannot be considered personal information,” Punani said.