By mid-April, I had lost count of the number of times my RTI request had been kicked around like a football. Then, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), where it reached four times from different departments, sent identical replies that are weirdly funny, to say the least. First, CBEC said, all information about the structure of excise duties imposed is up on its website. Next, it said, the kinds of details I sought do not even constitute ‘information’ under the RTI Act. Surprisingly, it also claimed that it does not hold such information and concluded its reply asserting that tax entity-wise data cannot be shared because it is held in fiduciary capacity (trust-based relationship) and disclosure would not serve “any public interest”. So, do they have the information or do they not?
