TMI Blog2023 (2) TMI 473X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... te of hearing. No coercive steps shall be taken against the CPIO, CBDT pursuant to the same. Ld. counsel for the CPIO, CBDT shall consider whether the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, whose information is being sought in the RTI application ought to be impleaded as a Respondent in this matter. If so, he shall take appropriate steps in accordance with law - The Registry shall serve the Respondent on the Email ID given in the memo of parties. - W.P.(C) 340/2023 & CM APPL.1348/2023 - - - Dated:- 12-1-2023 - JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH Petitioner: Mr. Zoheb Hossain, Sr Standing Counsel for Revenue with Mr. Vipul Agarwal and Mr. Parth Semwal, Standing Counsel for Revenue Respondent: None. ORDER Prathiba M. Sin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ons as information. 4. The CPIO, CBDT denied the aforementioned information under Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI, Act) vide order dated 5th April, 2021. Thereafter, the RTI applicant/ Respondent approached the Appellate Authority, CBDT by way of an appeal. 5. The Appellate Authority relied on the judgement of the ld. Division Bench of Kerala High Court in Bhanunni v. Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (Admn.) Department, (2011) 2 KLT 312 which held that Hindu religious institutions and endowments are not public authority under the RTI Act. Reliance was also placed on the judgment of the Hon ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh in G. Rajenderanath Goud v. Government of Andhra Prade ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he denial of the information by the CPIO as well as the FAA. Having observed as above, the Commission directs the CPIO to revisit points 1 2 of the instant RTI Application and provide the available information to the Appellant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order. A compliance report to this effect shall be duly sent to the Commission by the CPIO immediately thereafter. It may be noted that no action is warranted with respect to points 3 4 of the RTI Application as the Appellant has not sought for a specific record as per Section 2(f) of the RTI Act but has raised speculative queries requiring the CPIO to interpret and deduce the relevance of the records, if any available. 7. Thus, the CIC directed tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Trust was not heard. (iv) That in the order passed by the full bench of the CIC in Rakesh Kumar Gupta v. ITAT (2007) SCC Online CIC 3153 the CIC, in the context of income tax records took a view that if information is being held by a public authority in judicial capacity, the provisions of the RTI Act would not prevail. The authorities under the Income Tax Act, as per ld. counsel, act either in judicial or a quasi-judicial capacity. (v) That as per the judgment of the Hon ble Supreme Court in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commr., (2013) 1 SCC 212 the information, which relates to income tax returns etc. would stand exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act unless a larger interest just ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... formation Commission or State Information Commission, as the case may be, shall give a reasonable opportunity of being heard to that third party. (ii) In the impugned dated 30th November, 2022 the CIC does not consider the fact that the information relating to the income tax records is exempted under Section 138 of the Income Tax Act,1961 which is a special law. (iii) The CIC does not consider the fact that the information which was being sought in the RTI application related to a third party and was held by the CBDT in fiduciary capacity. Thus, the information would be governed by the exemption under Section 8(1)(e) and 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. (iv) The CIC has not given any reasoning whatsoever to reverse the orders of the CPIO, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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