Siction 22 of RTI Act be referred here, which says The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act. Nowadays it is the practice being followed by the Income Tax department to deny the information on the IT returns and balance sheets filed by the assesses( individual as well as corporate), citing the reason that it is "private information", "confidential or third party information", "covered under fiduciary relationship", "unwarranted invasion of privacy", "does not involve public interest" etc. Hence it became a necessity to ask for the information under RTI Act about the provisions in the Income Tax Act as far as the terms used by the department to deny the information. Accordingly, certain queries as in the RTI application dt. 2-5-11 was raised with the department. By the department's letter dt. 10-6-11, certain queries were answered in contrast to their points for denial of information. However, certain queries lack direct and clear replies. According to the information furnished, 1. The information relating to assessees can be supplied as per sec. 138 of IT Act. 2. Further information respecting assessees can be published under sec. 287 of the Act by the Central Govt. 3. No provision in the Act to treat the returns as confidential. (Hence it cannot be considered as third party information under sec. 11 of the RTI Act. Because sec. 11 of RTI Act states that a document treated as confidential by the party which supplied the same, only can be considered as third party information.) 4. Filing of IT return is mandatory when his income is taxable and it is the duty to file return under sec. 139 of the IT Act. (Accordingly, the return filed becomes official document of the IT department and it cannot be construed as a private document.) 5. While exercising the powers of the IT Act by the officials, it cannot be said it is an act of unwarranted invasion of privacy of the individuals. 6. IT department is duty bound to supply information sought by the legislative authorities such as Parliament of India. In this context, the public authority of Income Tax department is not justified legally or otherwise to deny the information on the IT returns filed by the assessees and in the light of sec. 68,69,69A,69B & 69C of the Act, any undisclosed income or assets attract public interest as it would affect the revenue of the nation. There is clear provision in the RTI Act to disseminate all the information which cannot be denied to the State Legislature or the Parliament shall not be denied to any person. Moreover, even if there are any restrictions or exemptions in the IT Act, it has the overriding effect under sec. 22 of the RTI Act. Bimal Khemani RTI activist ALIGARH-202001 INDIA Mob:935-972-4625 --- On Wed, 15/6/11, gopala krishnan <gopalakrishnanvelu@yahoo.co.in> wrote:
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