What is meaning of public interest as per right to information Act

I may also observe that public interest does not mean that which 
is interesting as gratifying curiosity or love of information or 
amusement; but that in which a class of the community have a 
pecuniary interest, or some interest by which their rights or liabilities 
are affected. The expression “public interest” is not capable of a 
precise definition and has not a rigid meaning and is elastic and takes 
its colors from the statute in which it occurs, the concept varying with 
the time and the state of the society and its needs. [See Advanced 
Law Lexicon, Third Edition].
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi-110067
Tel: +91-11-26105682
File No.CIC/RM/A/2012/000826
Appellant: Shri V. Gopalakrishnan, Chennai
Public Authority: ACIT, Circle – 40(1) & Addl. CIT,
Range-40, New Delhi.
Date of Hearing: 16.08.2013
Date of decision: 16.08.2013
Heard today, dated 16.08.2013 through video conferencing.
Appellant is represented by Shri Manikandam Chettiar, Advocate.
The Public Authority is absent. 

FACTS
Vide RTI dt 12.11.11, appellant had sought copies of ITRs and balance sheet
submitted by Smt Sonia Gandhi for the period 2000-2011. 
2. CPIO vide letter dt 5.12.11, observed that the information sought relates to
personal information, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public
interest and disclosure of which would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of the
assessee and hence information was denied u/s 8(1)(j).
3. An appeal was filed on 8.12.11.
4. AA vide order dt 16.1.12 remanded the proceedings back to the CPIO for
passing of a fresh speaking order after obtaining objections, if any, from the third
party. CPIO vide letter dt 14.2.12, observed that a notice u/s 11 of the RTI Act was
sent to the third party, who had objected to disclosure of private information as it
would amount to unwarranted invasion of the individual’s privacy. It was further
observed that as there was no overriding public interest involved, the request was
rejected u/s 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.
5. Appellant submitted another appeal dt 19.3.12, and AA vide order dt 20.4.12,
upheld the decision of the CPIO.
16. Written submissions have been received from the appellant and are taken on
record. It is the contention of the appellant that there is evasion of tax as evident
from the affidavit filed by her before the Election Commission in 2004. As such there
is larger public interest in disclosure of the Returns. 
DECISION
7. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Girish Ramchandra Deshpande
has held that details disclosed by a person in his Income Tax Returns are ‘personal
information’ which stands exempt from disclosure u/s 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act unless it
involves larger public interest and the CPIO or the AA is satisfied that the larger
public interest justifies the disclosure of such information. 
8. The Hon’ble High Court in the case of UPSC Vs RK Jain decided on
13.7.2012, has defined public interest as follows:
“25. “Public interest” is also a ground for taking away the exemption 
from disclosure of personal information. Therefore, a querist may seek 
personal information of a person from a public authority in public 
interest. The second half of the first part of clause (j) of Section 8(1) 
shows that when personal information in respect of a person is sought, the
authority concerned shall weigh the competing claims i.e., the 
claim for the protection of personal information of the concerned
person on the one hand, and the claim of public interest on the other, 
and if “public interest” justifies disclosure, i.e., the public interest 
outweighs the need for protection of personal information, the 
concerned authority shall disclose the information.
26. For example, a querist may seek from the income tax 
authorities- the details of the income tax returns filed by private 
individual/juristic entity - if the querist can justify the disclosure of such 
personal information on the anvil of public interest. The authorities 
would, in such cases, be cautious to ensure that the ground of “public 
interest” is not routinely used as a garb by busy bodies to pry on the 
personal affairs of individual private citizens/entities, as it would be 
against public interest (and not in public interest) to permit such 
personal information of third parties to fall into the hands of anybody 
or everybody.
227. At this stage, I may digress a little and observe that whenever 
the querist applicant wishes to seek information, the disclosure of 
which can be made only upon existence of certain special 
circumstances, for example- the existence of public interest, the 
querist should in the application (moved under Section 6 of the Act) 
disclose/ plead the special circumstance, so that the PIO concerned 
can apply his mind to it, and, in case he decides to issue notice to the
concerned third party under Section 11 of the Act, the third party is 
able to effectively deal with the same. Only then the PIO/appellate 
authority/CIC would be able to come to an informed decision whether, 
or not, the special circumstances exist in a given case.
28. I may also observe that public interest does not mean that which 
is interesting as gratifying curiosity or love of information or 
amusement; but that in which a class of the community have a 
pecuniary interest, or some interest by which their rights or liabilities 
are affected. The expression “public interest” is not capable of a 
precise definition and has not a rigid meaning and is elastic and takes 
its colors from the statute in which it occurs, the concept varying with 
the time and the state of the society and its needs. [See Advanced 
Law Lexicon, Third Edition].”
9. A mere allegation of evasion cannot be construed as larger public interest.
The Commission concurs with the decision of the CPIO/AA.
The appeal is disposed of.
Sd/-
 (Rajiv Mathur)
Central Information Commissioner 

Print Page