Ex-CJI backtracks, not ready to reveal I-T info

Apr 19, 2011 |

Correspondent

Kochi

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In a dramatic reversal of stance, former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan objected to disclosing his income-tax returns citing invasion to his personal liberty.

Foll-owing the refusal, the income-tax appellate autho-rity, in a hearing held here Monday afternoon, rejected the RTI application seeking asset details.

In an earlier statement, filed April 5, ex-CJI Balakrishnan had agreed to reveal details of his personal assets, save his Permanent Account Num-ber.

In the latest statement, Justice Balakrishnan submitted that publishing the income derived from his assets is certainly an invasion of his personal liberty and the same is excluded as per Section 8(j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The statement also pointed out that the remittance of income-tax by ex-CJI Bala-krishnan is in his perso-nal capacity and not under the capacity of Chief Justice of India.

In the afternoon hearing, the first appellate authority upheld the earlier decision of the central public information officer in denying the asset details of Justice Balakrishnan to the applicant, Dr T. Bala-chandran.

The appellate authority noted that either one of two conditions should be met for providing the details sought.

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