Certified photocopy of the attendance register pertaining to the Librarian was denied by National Aluminium Company Ltd - CIC: Attendance record of a public servant conveys information regarding her availability for duty and relates to public activity
21 Mar, 2018O R D E R
1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), National Aluminium Co. Ltd, Human Resource Department, Smelter Plant, Angul Odisha seeking information on ten points including, inter-alia,
(i) specific reason why she is not getting Class XI & XII Theory Class and
(ii) the reason for writing “involved in unwanted, futile activities and negative thinking” in her Annual Confidential Report (ACR).
2. The appellant filed a second appeal before the Commission on the grounds that that out of 10 points, information has not been provided on any of the points within the stipulated period of 30 days. The appellant stated that incomplete, misleading and malafide denial of information in respect of all ten points has caused her mental torture. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to furnish information free of cost under Section 7(6) and to impose penalty on the CPIO under Section 20 of the RTI Act.
Hearing:
3. The appellant Dr. Puspalata Rout and the respondent Shri S.S. Panda, DGM, NALCO, Angul attended the hearing through video conferencing.
4. The appellant submitted that certified photocopy of the attendance register pertaining to the Librarian as sought vide point no. 4 of the RTI application has not been furnished.
5. The respondent submitted that point wise information had been provided to the appellant vide letter dated 09.02.2017. The respondent further submitted that the attendance register relating to the Librarian includes personal information of other employees. Hence, copies of the same was not provided to the appellant.
Decision:
6. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of both the parties and perusing the records, observes that leave/attendance record of a public servant conveys information regarding her availability for duty and hence, relates to public activity. In view of this, the information sought is disclosable under the RTI Act. The Commission, therefore, directs the respondent to provide the information sought vide point no. 4 of the RTI application by the appellant, after severing that part of information which would result in disclosure of reasons/purpose of leave which is a third party personal information and hence, is exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) 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: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. of the RTI Act, 2005, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
7. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
8. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
(Sudhir Bhargava)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Dr. Puspalata Rout v. CPIO, National Aluminium Company Ltd. in Decision No. CIC/NALCO/A/2017/131601, dated 15.02.2018