The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently reacted with surprise to a case where a man invoked the Right to Information (RTI) Act to obtain details about his own name and address from his wife's employer.
Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi observed that the petitioner, Lucky Kumar, had not requested any details regarding his wife's official duties but had instead sought information about his own name and address.
“The information asked for was with regard to the name of the husband of one of the employee, namely Veena Kumari and during the hearing, the Court has been apprised by the counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is actually the husband of Veena Kumari. Nothing has come on record as to why the husband is seeking the information from the Department about the name and address of the husband of Veena Kumari that is to say that the husband is seeking details about himself, which is surprising,” the Court observed.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the government department had failed to provide “the personal information of one of its employees.”
However, opposing the plea, the State contended that such information is exempt under the provisions of the RTI Act.
The Court concurred with the State's argument, stating that seeking an employee’s personal details falls under the realm of privacy and cannot be disclosed.
“Keeping in view the fact that personal information is not to be made available under 2005 Act, no ground is made out for any interference by this Court,” the it added while dismissing the plea.
Advocates Meena Bansal and Navjot Kaur represented the petitioner.
Deputy Advocate General Akshita Chauhan represented the State of Punjab.
Case Title: Lucky Kumar vs Punjab State Information Commission and others
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