788PSSondhiITOBikaner 16 02 5 1
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Room No.308, B wing, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066
Appeal No. CIC/AT/A/2008/00788
Appellant: Shri P.S. Sondhi
Public Authority: Income Tax Department
(through Shri U.S. Raina, Addl.CIT, Bikaner
& Shri S.N. Sunar, ITO))
Date of Hearing: 16/02/2009
Date of Decision: 16/02/2009
FACTS
:-
The background of the matter is that Dr. Vinod Kumar Bihani is a tenant in the
house of the Appellant and is paying rental @Rs.4,00/-p.m. It is the suspicion of the
Appellant that he is drawing HRA from the Government @Rs.4014/-p.m. and, thereby,
committing a fraud. It is in this context, that the Appellant, by his letter of 23/10/2007,
had requested for information as to the rebate being claimed by Dr. Bihani on account of
house rent as shown in his IT Returns for the years 2000 to 2007.
2. CPIO, vide his letter dated 06/11/2007, had refused to disclose information as it
related to a third party.
3. On Appeal, the Appellate Authority vide order dated 16/01/2008, had upheld the
decision of the CPIO.
4. The present Appeal is directed against the order of the CPIO and the AA.
5. The matter was heard on 16/02/2009. The Appellant is represented by his
daughter Smt. Mattu J.P. Singh. The Income Tax Department is represented by the
officers named above. Shri Raina reiterates his stand as taken in the Appellate Order
referred to above. On the other hand, Smt. Mattu strongly pleads for disclosure of this
information as, according to her, fraud is being committed by Dr. Bihani.
6. This Commission has held in several of its decisions that ITRs contain personal
information which is exempted from disclosure u/s 8(1) of the RTI Act and there is no
reason to deviate from the past decisions in this matter. However, in the matter in hand,
the Appellant is requesting for information relating to the rebate on account of the house
rent being claimed by Dr. Bihani in his Income Tax Returns. In other words, the
Appellant is not interested in disclosure of entire Income Tax Returns.
788PSSondhiITOBikaner 16 02 5 2
DECISION
7. In view of this, the CPIO is hereby directed to disclose to the Appellant as to
whether any rebate on account of house rent is being claimed by the Appellant in last five
years, as per available records. No information other than this is REQUIRED to be
disclosed to the Appellant.
8. The matter is disposed of subject to the above directions.
Sd/-
(M.L. Sharma)
Central Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against application and payment of the charges,
prescribed under the Act, to the CPIO of this Commission.
(K.L. Das)
Assistant Registrar
Tele: 011 2671 73 53