Is the annual income of LIC agent disclosable under RTI?

Background

The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information related to the agent of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. He wanted the details of the code number, club membership and the annual income of that agent. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided part information pertaining to the code number and club membership of the agent but denied information pertaining to annual income of the agent 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 Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Proceeding

During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that she was the estranged wife of the third party and that this information was sought in larger public interest of obtaining maintenance for their minor daughter. The respondent submitted that the matter had already been heard by the appropriate court and that at a sum of Rs. 5,000/- as monthly maintenance for the minor daughter to be paid by the third party had been ordered by the court. Therefore there was no larger public interest in providing the requested information. The appellant submitted that the third party was not acting as per the directions of the court and that the interest of the minor child was being ignored.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that in the larger public interest of the maintenance of the minor, the information sought regarding the annual income of that agent has to be provided to the appellant.

Citation: Mrs. Lakshmi Paul v. LIC of India in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2011/004455