Government servants cannot hide salary from wife
4 May, 2012The Goa State Information Commission (GSIC) has directed to provide the salary details of a government employee to his estranged wife whose divorce plea is pending in Court. The wife of the government servant had sought the details vide an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to claim appropriate maintenance. All the efforts of the government employee who had urged not to furnish his salary details failed. He claimed that it was his personal information which is exempt from disclosure. In respect of a matrimonial suit seeking dissolution of marriage by a decree of divorce, the wife had filed an application for interim maintenance claiming that she is unemployed and hence dependent on her sister. She claimed that her husband was earning nearly Rs 25,000 per month which was further increased after the 6th pay commission implementation.
Perhaps nobody noticed that the gross emoluments of a government servant are liable to be placed in the public domain without the need for filing a RTI application as per section 4(1)(b). In a lighter vein – Can any husband claim that he can hide his income from his wife?