A husband can use RTI to get general information about his wife’s income to check if there’s any evidence against her in a maintenance case.

The CIC recently ordered a CPIO to provide a man with general information about his wife’s net and gross income in order to verify it for a maintenance case. According to the order, Information Commissioner Saroj Punhani pointed out that the CIC had earlier granted a similar request in a case involving Rahmat Bano. So, the CIC decided that the same criteria applied in this case and the man was entitled to the information.

The first appeal was filed on February 16, but it was also denied on the grounds that the Supreme Court had already ruled on the same case in the Supreme Court vs. Central Information Commission and Ors.

The man had submitted an RTI application to the CPIO on 10 October 2022, asking for details about his wife’s gross and net income. The CPIO denied the request on 2 February 2023, citing the restrictions of Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act.

The appellant’s wife stated that since such records had already been produced before the civil court in the course of the maintenance case, seeking the information through an RTI application would not serve any public interest.

The CIC acknowledged that the Delhi High Court in Vijay Prakash vs. Union of India has observed that in private disputes such as one between a husband and wife, the basic protection afforded by section 8(1)(j) cannot be lifted or disturbed.

It further mentioned that similar facts were used in Madhumala B. R. vs. ACIT, Ward 3(3)(1), Bangalore, where the appellant was refused access to the material because the Karnataka High Court had temporarily suspended the material Commission’s orders to provide it.

The CIC continued, however, by pointing out that in the Rahmat Bano case, a man’s estranged wife was permitted access to his gross income.

In the Rahmat Bano case, the CIC had taken into account decisions rendered by the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the Bombay High Court, it was observed.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court, in a 2018 ruling, had held that while dealing with Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, one cannot lose sight of the fact that the parties are husband and wife and that a wife would be entitled to know what remuneration her husband was getting.

The Bombay High Court, in the same year, ruled that in litigation where the issue involved was the maintenance of a wife, the information relating to the salary details no longer remained confined to the category of personal information.

Applying these rulings to the present case, the CIC proceeded to direct the CPIO to provide the “generic details of the net taxable income or gross income” of the appellant’s wife to the appellant (husband) within 15 days from the date of receipt of the order.