The details of insurance policy is personal information of the policy holder
13 Apr, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Life Insurance of Corporation (LIC) of India seeking details of two particular policies. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under section 8(1)(j) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. of the RTI Act.
Proceedings
During the hearing the before Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that the LIC Policies holder and the nominees had chosen to terminate the policy prematurely and had taken the requisite amount as per relevant calculations. The respondent also submitted that the third party has denied permission for the disclosure of her personal information. The appellant submitted that disclosure of information is required as the rights of the nominee are being affected.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the third party is entitled to terminate the policy prematurely. The CIC ruled that the information sought is personal information of the third party and no person can claim as a matter of right the personal information of a third party unless a larger public interest is being established. The appeal filed by the appellant was rejected in above terms.
Citation: Mr. Jagan Singh v. LIC of India in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2012/001603, CIC/DS/A/2012/001605
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1194
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission