Copies of complaints, investigation report, file notings & final orders issued against Central Labour Service Group “A” officers - CIC: PIO did not apply his mind before categorising it as personal information; the files summoned u/s 18(3)(e) for enquiry
26 Apr, 2017
Hearing : 10.04.2017
ORDER
FACTS:
1. The complainant sought copies of complaints, investigation report, verification report, file notings and final orders issued against other Central Labour Service Group “A” officers along with names of officers against whom complaints has been received in Ministry between 1.1.2000 and 1.5.2013. The CPIO/US CLS-II (Vig.), Shri Arunjay Kumar, provided reply to the appellant on 1310.2014 denying information 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. 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 RTI Act, which was upheld by the FAA. The complainant approached this Commission.
Decision :
2. The officers stated that some of the complaints are disposed and others complaints are pending departmental proceedings. 3. After hearing the submissions from both the parties, the Commission finds that the CPIO did not apply his mind to understand whether information sought by him was related to public activities, and disclosure would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of the concerned officer etc, before categorising it as his personal information, which is against the mandate of 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. 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. and that of the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Girish Ramachandra Deshpande case. The Commission thus finds substance in the complaint, which need to be inquired into. Initiating the inquiry the Commission summons the files of 19 cases of complaints for examination, under Section 18 (3) (e) of RTI Act, on 27.04.2017 at 2:30 p.m.
SD/-
(M. Sridhar Acharyulu)
Central Information Commissioner
Citation: Y N Chaubey v. PIO, M/o Labour & Employment in CIC/BS/C/2015/000077