BHAGAT SINGH Vs. CHIEF INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Petitioner in the present writ proceeding approaches this Court seeking partial quashing of an order of the Central Information Commission and also for a direction from this Court that the information sought by him under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as "the act") should be supplied with immediate effect.

(2.) THE facts relevant to decide the case are as follows. The petitioner was married in 2000 to Smt. Saroj Nirmal. In November 2000 she filed a criminal complaint alleging that she had spent/paid as dowry an amount of rs. Ten Lakhs. Alleging that these claims were false, the Petitioner, with a view to defend the criminal prosecution launched against him, approached the Income Tax Department with a tax evasion petition (TEP) dated 24. 09. 2003. Thereafter, in 2004 the Income Tax Department summoned the petitioner's wife to present her case before them. Meanwhile, the Petitioner made repeated requests to the Director of Income Tax (Investigation) to know the status of the hearing and TEP proceedings. On failing to get a response from the second and third Respondents, he moved an application under the Act in November, 2005. He requested for the following information:

(3.) THE application was rejected by the second Respondent (the Public information Officer, designated under the Act by the Income Tax department) on 10th January 2006 under Section 8 (1) of the Act, by reasoning that the information sought was personal in nature, relating to dowry and did not further public interest. The relevant portion of this provision is extracted below: