Salary Details Of Husband "Personal Information": Rajasthan High Court Upholds Dismissal Of Wife’s RTI Plea
The wife had sought copies of the pay slips and details of the salary paid to her husband.
The Rajasthan High Court has upheld the State’s decision to deny a woman access to her husband’s salary details under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The petitioner had sought copies of the pay slips and details of the salary paid to her husband, who was employed with the police department in Bhilwara.
A bench of Justice Kuldeep Mathur held, “Disclosure of such information, in the absence of any overriding public interest, has no relationship with any public activity or public interest.”
Advocate Gopal Lal Acharya appeared for the Petitioner.
Her RTI application was rejected by the competent authority on the ground that the information sought was “personal” in nature, pertained to a third party, and was therefore exempt from disclosure under the provisions of the RTI Act. The Rajasthan State Information Commission subsequently upheld the decision.
Aggrieved, the wife approached the High Court.
The Court, however, found no illegality in the State’s action in refusing to disclose the information. While doing so, it relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commissioner & Ors, 2013.
In that judgment, the Supreme Court held that information relating to the performance of an employee or officer in an organisation is primarily a matter between the employee and the employer, governed by service rules, and falls within the ambit of “personal information”.
Accordingly, the High Court found no merit in the writ petition and dismissed the same.
Cause Title: Kanta Kumawat v State of Rajasthan & Ors., [2026:RJ-JD:6212]