Anonymous RTI applications using post box number valid, says Calcutta High Court

[bpagrawal]

Anonymous RTI applications using post box number valid, says Calcutta High Court

Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Avishek Goenka challenging the rejection of his RTI application made to a central government department by using his post box number to protect his identity, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Ashim Kumar Banerjee and Justice Debangsu Basak held that a person making a petition under the Right to Information (RTI) Act need not give his name and address and can make the petition by using only a post box number.
The order of the Calcutta High Court would be applicable only in West Bengal and the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Other states may follow the order, but it is not a binding upon them. This decision, which would serve as a major protection for whistle-blowers in the country, was delivered by the division bench to protect applicants or RTI activists from attack and harassment by persons who do not want information about their activities to be disclosed.
http://www.lawweb.in/2013/11/anonymous-rti-applications-using-post.html