Applicability of the provision of Life and Liberty under RTI
18 Jun, 2012Background
The appellant was the employee of Central Institute of Psychiatry and a complaint was filed against him with the institute. He filed a RTI application seeking information in relation to the complaint filed against him, such as the copy of complaint, office order for the enquiry, name of the members of the enquiry committee, date of enquiry, name of the persons enquired, letter asking ‘enquired persons’ to attend the enquiry of the committee, copy of statement of the witnesses, the enquiry report, action taken on the enquiry report by the competent authority and the basis of decision of competent authority with reference to provisions of the government rules under which the decision was taken. He also invoked the clause of ‘Life and Liberty’ and demanded the reply within 24 hours as per the proviso of section 7(1) Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9: Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9: of the RTI Act. The Public Information Officer (PIO) replied that the information sought does not pertain to life and liberty and hence the reply would be sent in normal course duration i. e. within 30 days. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) upheld the PIO’s order stating that information will be provided within 30 days of normal course of time under section 7(1) Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9: Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9: of the RTI act as appellant’s request has not been accompanied with substantive evidence that a threat of life and liberty exists. During the hearing, the appellant admitted that he had received the information.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) pointed out that the information sought by the appellant could not be categorized as information affecting life and liberty, as the provision can be applied only in cases where there is an imminent danger to the life or liberty of a person and the non-supply of the information may either lead to death or grievous injury to the concerned person. The Commission perused the RTI application and concluded that non-disclosure will not lead to an imminent threat to life or liberty of the appellant. The Commission further observed that some information had been furnished to the appellant, but directed the PIO to provide the copy of the complaint and the names of the members of the inquiry committee along with the details requested by the appellant after the payment of additional fee by the appellant.
Comments
The clause of ‘Life or Liberty’ can be invoked to obtain information within 48 hours of filing the RTI application. The ‘Life or Liberty’ clause can be applied only in cases where there is an imminent danger to the life or liberty of a person and the non-supply of the information may either lead to death or grievous injury to the concerned person. Such imminent danger or the fact that the disclosure of the information would obviate the danger to the life of liberty of an individual has to be demonstrably proven. Merely the fact that the disclosure of information may assist an appellant to lead a better life is not sufficient for invoking the proviso of Section 7(1) Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9: Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9: .
Citation: Mr. Pratap Kumar Jena v. Central institute of Psychiatry in Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2012/000814/18825
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/384
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission