The high court noted that section 138(1)(b) of the IT Act mandates that information relating to an assessee can only be supplied subject to the satisfaction of Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, as the case may be. It added that the court was of the view that “the CIC does not have the jurisdiction to direct furnishing of information, provided for in Section 138 of the IT Act. In any case, even if they had the jurisdiction, the failure to give PM CARES, notice of hearing, would in itself have vitiated the impugned.The single-judge bench had earlier noted that the issue of whether the PM Cares Fund is a public authority is presently pending before a division bench of the high court.The respondent, RTI applicant Girish Mittal, had filed an RTI application before the I-T seeking certain information pertaining to an exemption application under the Income Tax Act in relation to PM CARES Fund as well as all the other exemption applications filed before the I-T from April 1, 2019, till March 31, 2020.
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