Address in the RTI application, section 6(2) of the RTI Act:
A short judgment of Calcutta High Court-
RTI Activist, Mr. Avishek Goenka approached the Calcutta H.C. in a writ petition and submitted that the authorities should not insist upon the detailed address of the applicant as and when any application is made under the Right to Information Act.
He stated that giving full address would cause a threat to the activist and in fact there had been past incidents of unnatural deaths of activist in the field, presumably by the interested persons having vested interest to conceal the information that is asked for by the activist.
He submitted that the applicant would provide a particular post-box number that would automatically conceal his identity to the public at large.
The Court considered the relevant provisions of the RTI Act and stated: Section 6(2) of the Right to information Act, 2005 would clearly provide, an applicant making request for information shall not be required to give any reason for requesting the information or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him.
The court further stated:
Looking to the said provision, we find logic in the submission of the petitioner. When the legislature thought it fit, the applicant need not disclose any personal detail, the authority should not insist upon his detailed whereabouts particularly
when post-box number is provided for that wouldestablish contact with him and the authority.
In case, the authority would find any difficulty with the post-box number, they may insist upon personal details. However, in such case, it would be the solemn duty of the authority to hide such information and particularly from their website so that people at large would not know of the details.
We thus dispose of this writ petition by making the observations as above. The Secretary, Ministry of Personnel should circulate the copy of this order to all concerned so that the authority can take appropriate measure to hide information with regard to personal details of the activist to avoid any harassment by the persons having vested interest.
[Mr. Avishek Goenka: W.P. 33290(W) of 2013 dated on20.11.2013.]
