Central Information Commission
Mr.Rajendra V Shah vs Cbdt on 26 April, 2010
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Room No. 308, B-Wing, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066
File No. CIC/LS/A/2010/000095
Appellant : Shri Rajendra V. Shah
Public Authority : Income Tax Department, Bhavnagar
(through : Shri Rajesh Mahajan, Asstt. CIT)
Date of hearing : 26.04.2010
Date of Decision : 26.04.2010
Facts :-
Vide RTI application dated 29.6.2009, the appellant had sought the following information regarding Shri Digambar Jain Swadhyay Mandir Trust, Songadh, Distt :
Bhavnagar :-
"(1) Copy of the audited Annual Accounts of the above Trust (2) Copy of all the audited Balance Sheet and its attachments of the above Trust (3) Copy of the assessment order in respect of item No. 1 and 2 above, of the above Trust (4) The above information in respect of item No. 1, 2 and 3 is required from the year 1980 till date."
2. The CPIO vide order dated 24.07.2009 had refused to disclose this information on the ground that it was exempted from disclosure under section 8(1)(j) and 11(1) of the RTI Act. He had also mentioned that the appellant could not establish any larger public interest in the disclosure of the requested information.
3. Aggrieved with the above decision, the appellant had filed first appeal which was decided by the First Appellate Authority vide order dated 03.09.2009, after affording an opportunity for hearing to the appellant. Relying on the decision of this Commission in File No. CIC/MA/A/2006/00497 dated 8.9.2006, the Appellate Authority had upheld the decision of the CPIO and dismissed the appeal.
4. The present appeal is directed against the above orders.
5. Heard on 26.04.2010. Appellant present along with Shri Vimal Kumar Dheerajlal Tamboli. Speaking for the appellant, Shri Tamboli challenges the orders of CPIO & AA on the following grounds :-
(i) that the Trust in question is a Public Charitable Trust meant for the benefit of the people. It is a non-profitable organisation and its activities fall in public domain. Hence, the requested information should be disclosed.
(ii) that the Trust is meant for the benefit of the followers. Any activities of the Trust which are not in line with the constitution of the Trust need to be exposed in the larger public interest. The appellant has no personal motive in seeking the requested information and he is acting in the larger public interest.
(iii) that the management of the Trust is committing certain irregularities in the financial matters. By seeking the requested information, he wants to satisfy himself as to the systems and procedures being followed by the management in the financial matters.
(iv) that he has instituted a criminal case against the Trustees in a court of law. He wishes to seek this information to prosecute this case with efficacy.
(v) that the Trust has been constituted under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950.
Section 68 of the said Act defines the powers and duties of the Charity Commissioner. As per clause (e) of the said section, it is the duty of the Charity Commissioner "to permit inspection of any statement, notice, intimation, account, audit note or any other document" but when the appellant took up the matter with the Asstt. Charity Commissioner, he refused to exercise the above powers, compelling him to move this Commission.
6. The submissions of Shri Tamboli are supplemented by the appellant. It is his principal submission that he is seeking the requested information for transparency in the functioning of the Trust in-question, more so, when it is a religious public trust. As the public in general subscribes to the coffers of the Trust, there should be no secrecy in regard thereto and they are well within their rights to have access to the financial matters of the Trust.
7. On the other hand, Shri Rajesh Mahajan, Asstt. CIT, supports the decisions of CPIO & AA.
8. It may be apt to mention that in decision dated 9.3.2010 in File No. CIC/LS/A/2009/00190 (Rakesh Aggarwal -Vs- CBDT), a Full Bench of the Commission has recommended to CBDT that the identity of the Charitable Trusts/institutions/entities which have been granted exemption under IT Act should be placed in public domain. The relevant para is extracted below :-
"We have also taken note of the pre-amble of the RTI Act which aims at promoting transparency and accountability in the working of the every Public Authority. In this context, it would be apt to advert to sub section 15 of section 2 of the IT Act which defines "charitable purpose". This sub section is extracted below :-
"15. 'Charitable purpose' includes relief of the poor, education, medical relief and advancement of any other object of general public utility."
Needless to say, avowed purpose for which these institutions/entities come into existence is charity. Charity and secrecy are contradiction in terms. Any charitable institution should have no secrets and should be open to public for all purposes, including its finances. In other words, in our opinion, it will be in the larger public interest if the identity of the charitable trusts/institutions/entities which are granted exemption from income tax under the statutory provisions are placed in the public domain. Hence, in exercise of powers under section 25(5) of the RTI Act, we hereby recommend that the identity of the charitable trusts/institutions/entities which have been granted exemption from income tax under section 10 & under section 11/12 of the Income Tax Act is placed in public domain by way of suo-motu disclosure by the CBDT in terms of section 4(1)(b) r/w section 4(2) of the RTI Act."
9. It may also be noted that a Full Bench of the Commission in decision dated 15.6.2009 in File No. CIC/AT/A/2008/00628 (Milap Choraria -Vs- CBDT) had held that ITRs are 'personal' information in terms of clause (j) of section 8(1) of RTI Act and, therefore, exempted from disclosure.
10. We now proceed to examine the request of the appellant in the above mentioned legal framework. His request is two fold :-
(i) copies of the assessment orders passed by the competent authority in regard to the Trust; and
(ii) copies of the audited Balance Sheets.
As far as point (i) above is concerned, as mentioned above, the Full Bench of the Commission has decided against disclosure of the ITRs and its decision is binding on this Bench. The assessment orders also belong to the same genre. Hence, this information cannot be supplied to the appellant.
11. However, as regards point (ii) above, the position is slightly different. The appellant is requesting for the balanced sheets and their attachments etc. from 1980 onwards. As noted above, we are dealing with a Mandir Trust to which subscriptions are made by the people in general. The subscribers and, for that matter, even other people, are entitled to know as to whether the subscriptions made by them are being put to proper use in terms of the declared objectives of the Trust. Besides, the people in general are also entitled to know whether the funds generated by the said Trust are being managed in a transparent and efficient manner. Viewed thus, it appears to us that there is no harm if the copies of the audited balance sheets of the Trust are disclosed to the appellant. However, there is a catch here. The appellant has requested for this information for last 30 years. In our view, it will be asking for too much to direct the Income Tax Department to cull out this vintage information (which, really, may not be of much value to the appellant) and to divert its resources without commensurate gains. In our view, it would suffice if the CPIO provides copies of the audited balance sheet for last 05 years, if available in his records, to the appellant on payment of requisite fee.
12. The matter is decided accordingly.
13. The order of the Commission may be complied with in 06 weeks time.
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 Address of parties :
1. The Deputy Director of Income Tax(Exemption) & CPIO, Ayakar Bhawan, 1st Floor, Room No.11, Near Jashonath Temple, Bhavnagar, Gujarat.
2. Shri Rajendra V. Shah, C/o Vimalkumar Dhirajlal, Plot No.6, Near Radha Mandir, Waghavadi Road, Bhavnagar, Gujarat.