Information about salary of employee of public authority is not third party information and can be disclosed under RTI
Central Information Commission (CIC): While holding that information about the salary of an employee of a public authority is not third party information and such information has to be voluntarily disclosed u/s 4(1)(b)(x) of the RTI Act, CIC directed Home Department of Delhi Government to provide salary slip of the husband of applicant wife who sought information about husband’s salary particulars for the purpose of maintenance claim. CIC also opined that every spouse has a right to information about the particulars of salary of other spouse especially for the purpose of maintenance, more so, when he is an employee of the public authority.
Earlier, the applicant approached the authorities of Home (General) department seeking information regarding salary slip and other allowances like TA, DA and HRA of her husband but was denied the said information on the grounds that the information belonged to third party and being a personal information that could be refused under Section 8(1)(j). Strongly deprecating the practice of denying information about salary with mala fide intentions either to harass the spouse or delay the process of justice or to avoid payment of money necessary for maintenance, CIC held that the husband as an earning member of family has a legal duty to maintain the wife and children and even after the divorce, the family law ordains that husband has a duty to provide for necessary maintenance of the wife and children. CIC also observed that Section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code mandated that husband has a general duty to maintain wife and children and thus the wife’s entitlement to know the salary particulars of her husband gets further fortified by all the above legal provisions. “In addition to above, under Section 20, Right to Information Act 2005, such a denial of information will be wrongful denial which could incur the penalty”, CIC added. (Jyoti Seherawat v. Home (General) Deptt., File No. CIC/AD/A/2012/003341SA, decided on January 7, 2014)1
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CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
