Information about officials against whom penalty was recommended
6 Mar, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Life Corporation of India (LIC) seeking information in respect of 13 officials against whom major penalty was recommended by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He also sought information about three employees against whom minor penalty was recommended and list of 10 class III employees along with the charge sheet in respect of whom CVC's advice was sought etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided partial information and the portions pertaining to information relating to CBI was denied under the provisions 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. of the RTI Act.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) drawing the attention to the other decision of the Supreme Court of India which held that the copies of all memos issued to the third respondent show cause notices and orders of censure/punishment etc were qualified to be personal information as defined 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 the RTI Act. (Link - http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/dopt/SCDecision.pdf ) The decision of PIO was upheld by the CIC.
Citation: Mr. Mritunjai Jha v. LIC of India in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2012/001549
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1097
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission