O R D E R

1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), National Fertilizers Limited, Uttar Pradesh. The appellant seeking information on nine points, including, inter-alia:-

(i) Two attested cop of salary slips for the month of April, 2019, May

2019, June 2019 with bonus of every month which is mentioned of Shri Gopal Bhagat Dinkar Deputy Manager (Safety);

(ii) Two attested copies of Income Tax Return of 2017-18 and 2018-19 of Shri Gopal Bhagat Dinkar filed by him, etc.

2. As the CPIO had not provided the requested information, the appellant filed the first appeal dated 26.08.2019 requesting that the information should be provided to her. The response of FAA is not on record. She filed a second appeal u/Section 19(3) of the RTI Act before the Commission on the ground that information has not been provided to her and requested the Commission to direct the respondent to provide complete and correct information.

Hearing:

3. The appellant attended the hearing through audio-call. The respondent, Ms. Gayatri Ranjan, CPIO attended the hearing through audio-call.

4. The respondent submitted their written submissions dated 28.07.2021 and the same has been taken on record.

5. The appellant submitted that no information has been provided to her by the respondent on her RTI application dated 23.07.2019. She stated that the information has been wrongly denied to her by the respondent.

6. The respondent submitted that vide their letter dated 25.09.2019, point- wise reply/information, as per the documents available on record has been provided to the appellant on her RTI application. The respondent submitted that they have also furnished copy of salary slips of Shri Gopal Bhagat Dinkar to the appellant. Decision:

7. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of both the parties and after perusal of records, observes that the appellant has sought information regarding Shri Gopal Bhagat Dinkar viz. copy of ITR, copy of revised pay- detail, details of assets and liabilities etc. which is personal information of third party and the same cannot be provided to the appellant as it is exempted from disclosure under section 8(1)(j) of the Act. The appellant has not established any larger public interest in the matter. It is noteworthy to mention that the income tax details are personal in nature, exempted u/Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005. With regards to the applicability of Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 regarding non-disclosure of the information, this Commission refers to the judgment dated 03-10-2012 of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in SLP(C) No. 27734 of 2012 titled as Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commission & ors., wherein, it has been held as under:-

"12. The petitioner herein sought for copies of all memos, show cause notices and censure/punishment awarded to the third respondent from his employer and also details viz. movable and immovable properties and also the details of his investments, lending and borrowing from Banks and other financial institutions. Further, he has also sought for the details of gifts stated to have accepted by the third respondent, his family members and friends and relatives at the marriage of his son. The information mostly sought for finds a place in the income tax returns of the third respondent. The question that has come up for consideration is whether the abovementioned information sought for qualifies to be "personal information" as defined in clause (j) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act.

13. We are in agreement with the CIC and the courts below that the details called for by the petitioner i.e. copies of all memos issued to the third respondent, show cause notices and orders of censure/punishment etc. are qualified to be personal information as defined in clause (j) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act. The performance of an employee/officer in an organization is primarily a matter between the