Information under RTI, if sought for vested interests, cannot be provided: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that whenever information is sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, especially by disgruntled persons in the garb of transparency, the authorities have to see whether the details asked are for some personal or vested interest.

Justice Pratibha M Singh made the observation while dismissing a plea by a man who had sought details of the persons who had been appointed at the President’s secretariat as multi-tasking staff.

The judge said that the petitioner had “cleverly” concealed the information from the court that he had filed the plea because his daughter had been unsuccessful in this selection process.

The court also imposed a cost of Rs25,000 on the petitioner for hiding the facts, while also noting that providing him with details of the persons who have been appointed will be a complete evasion of their privacy.

Advocate Anurag Alhuwalia, the Central government’s standing counsel, told the court that while five of the six details sought were provided to the man, the last one, with respect to the phone numbers, name and address of the residence of the successful candidates was not given, because that would infringe upon their privacy.

During the hearing, the court repeatedly sought to know from the petitioner’s counsel as to what was the motive for seeking such information. The court was finally informed that the petitioner’s daughter had also appeared for the recruitment process and was unsuccessful in her attempt.