Right to informatian seems to be an anti-corruption tool.I saying seems because it has lots of exemption which restrict invividual and other organisation in proper transparency and clear accountability for the smooth functioning of the administrative bodies.
Right to privacy is an important natural need of every human being , no one can compel any individual to reveal his personal information which is not of public importance.Glancing upon this view , Right to privacy could be stated as mentioned under Art.21 in the term ”personal liberty” .Every individual has the right to expression but at the same time , they have the right not to express as well.
Section 8(1)(j) of RTI Act,2005 states as ”Notwithstanding anything contained in this act , there shall be no obligation to give any citizen information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest , or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority , as the case may be , is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.”
One of the major component of the sec.8(1)(j) is that it exempts the information which would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of individual unless the PIO or the appellate authority is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.It is to be noted that this section is specifically concerned about “the privacy of individual and no other bodies or institutions.”It cannot be applied when the information concerns institutions , societies, organizations or corporate .This shows that privacy to some extent could only be maintained by an individual and no other body could entertain this power.
At one end, Privacy acts as basis for claiming exemption from revealing the information at the same time Preamble to the RTI ACT provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities and in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority.One of the recent case which was in focus is “While the RTI application wanted details of Quraishi's assets and liabilities from 2005-06 to 2010-11, the Commission cited Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act while rejecting the request”.Disclosure of information such as assets of the public servants , which is routinely collected by the public authority and routinely provided by the public servants cannot be construed as invasion of Privacy , but some it worked as an obstacle to mere Right to privacy.In the democratic set up, it is required an informed citizenry, transparency of information which is of public importance and to curb the corruption.But at the same time the state has no right to invade the privacy of an individual without his permission.