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“I have nothing to hide. When I was Chief Justice of India, I already declared my assets and I have filed my income tax returns also for the last five years” National Human Rights Commission Chairperson K.G. Balakrishnan said on Tuesday.
Speaking to The Hindu here, he justified his objection to disclosing his income particulars as sought by an applicant under the Right to Information Act.
The Income Tax Department, after taking the views of Justice Balakrishnan, rejected an application from T. Balachandran of Kochi, who wanted certified copies of his IT returns for five years from 2005. Justice Balakrishnan said the department ought to have straightway rejected the application and it “should not have written to me in this regard.” If income tax particulars with PAN and other bank details were made public, they were likely to be misused these days when cyber crimes were on the increase.
Justice Balakrishnan pointed out that when he was CJI the decision to declare the assets of judges was taken and some of them initially disclosed bank details on the Supreme Court website. Later these details were removed once it became known that there was a likelihood of misuse. “Nobody would like to give personal details as no public interest is involved and these are exempted from disclosure as per Section 8(j) of the RTI Act 2005.”
Speaking to The Hindu here, he justified his objection to disclosing his income particulars as sought by an applicant under the Right to Information Act.
The Income Tax Department, after taking the views of Justice Balakrishnan, rejected an application from T. Balachandran of Kochi, who wanted certified copies of his IT returns for five years from 2005. Justice Balakrishnan said the department ought to have straightway rejected the application and it “should not have written to me in this regard.” If income tax particulars with PAN and other bank details were made public, they were likely to be misused these days when cyber crimes were on the increase.
Justice Balakrishnan pointed out that when he was CJI the decision to declare the assets of judges was taken and some of them initially disclosed bank details on the Supreme Court website. Later these details were removed once it became known that there was a likelihood of misuse. “Nobody would like to give personal details as no public interest is involved and these are exempted from disclosure as per Section 8(j) of the RTI Act 2005.”