[Personal Details Of 4474 RTI Applicant On MIB Site] If Such Large Scale Breaches Are Not Taken Seriously, RTI Itself Will be Trivialized; Bombay HC In Saket Gokhale Case

The Bombay High Court on Thursday instituted an inquiry by the Secretary of Information and Broadcasting Ministry on the issue of personal details of 4474 RTI applicants being uploaded on the official website of the ministry leading to a massive breach. Court observed that if such large scale breaches in the field of Right To Information are not taken seriously, then the right itself will be trivialized.Division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Milind Jadhav were hearing a writ petition filed by former journalist and RTI activist Saket Gokhale. The bench noted that suitable action must be taken, and also seen to be taken, to underscore the importance of the RTI Act of 2005. Court imposed a cost of Rs.25,000 towards litigation expenses on the Ministry.According to Gokhale, his personal details like address and phone number were uploaded on the website leading to severe harassment as he had instituted court proceedings on sensitive issues and started receiving threatening phone calls, messages etc. A mob gathered outside his house raising slogans. Petitioner realized that due to website link of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting being accessed by internet search engines, his personal details became available on the internet. Thus, the present petition was filed seeking damages for mental agony.Unmana Sarangi, Deputy Director (EW), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting filed a reply affidavit stating that the petitioner's personal data was removed from the website from August 1, 2020. Petitioner responded that though his personal details were stated to be removed on August 1, 2020, the details continued to be on the website till September 14, 2020. Petitioner submitted that because his personal details were uploaded by the Ministry in the public domain, it was accessed by antisocial elements who threatened him causing harassment and trauma. He further submitted that despite office memorandums the Ministry has uploaded the personal details singling him out because he has taken up various sensitive social causes. During the hearing on October 15, 2020, appearing for the Ministry Advocate Rui Rodrigues accepted that the Department of Personnel and Training had issued a memorandum on October 7, 2016, specifying that the personal details of the applicants under Right to Information Act should not be put up on the website. He stated that however, this memorandum did not reach the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and with its knowledge, corrective action was taken. He further argued that it is not that only petitioner's details were put up on the website. Court noted that no details as to when the memorandums came to the knowledge of the Ministry were furnished. Secondly, no particulars were given whether in all the applications filed the personal details of all the applicants were put up on the website. The bench referred to the case of Avishek Goenka v. Ashish Kumar Roy wherein, one Avishek Goenka claiming to be an activist in the field of Right to Information, had approached the Calcutta High Court with the contention that the authority should not insist upon the detailed address of the applicant under the Act of 2005 as and when an application is made under the said Act. He had apprehended that those persons having vested interest to conceal the information asked for by the activist, would cause a threat to the activist and there had been past incidents of unnatural deaths of the activists in the field, presumably by the interested. The division bench of the Calcutta High Court considered Section 6(2) of the Act of 2005 and held that it would be the duty of the authority to hide such details and particularly from their website so that people at large would not know of the details. On November 20, 2013, Court passed the order accordingly, and the Secretary, Ministry of Personnel was directed to circulate the copy of the order to all concerned so the authority can take measures to hide personal details of the activists to avoid any harassment by the persons having vested interests.After this, office memorandums were issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Government of India on October 21, 2014, March 23, 2016 and October 7, 2016. The office memorandum dated October 7 is relevant as it refers to the above order of the Calcutta High Court and directs that personal details of RTI applicants such as name, designation, address, email-id and telephone/mobile number should not be disclosed. Adv Rodrigues submitted that it is not the case that the petitioner has been singled out, as the Ministry has uploaded 4,474 applications with personal details. To the specific query whether personal details of all 4,474 applicants were displayed on the website, he confirmed that it was so and the applications with all personal details were uploaded. Rodrigues admitted that there was an error on the part of the Ministry and there is no malice or motive to put up the personal details of the Petitioner alone ...

[Personal Details Of 4474 RTI Applicant On MIB Site] If Such Large Scale Breaches Are Not Taken Seriously, RTI Itself Will be Trivialized; Bombay HC In Saket Gokhale Case

Nitish Kashyap

Tags