Part of information regarding a department enquiry conducted against appellant on the basis of a complaint - PIO denied u/s 8(1)(g) & 8(1)(h) - CIC: disclosure of name of complainant and those involved in enquiry would endanger the life or physical safety
2 Nov, 2013Part of information regarding a department enquiry conducted against appellant on the basis of a complaint - PIO denied u/s 8(1)(g) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; & 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; - CIC: disclosure of name and designation of person who lodged the complaint, the persons involved in the preliminary enquiry and original complaint would endanger the life or physical safety of the person
ORDER
The present appeal, filed by Shri Amit Agrawal against Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, was taken up for hearing on 30.09.2013 when the Respondents were present through Shri Rajendra Bisht, Exe (Law), Shri Ashok Kumar Sharma, AGM (HR), Shri S. Sridhar, Sr. Manager (HR/Law), Shri K.K. Nair, AGM (HR) and Ms. Shreysi Singh, Sr. Executive (Law). The Appellant was present in person.
2. The Appellant through his RTI application dated 26.09.2011 sought certain information(like, name and designation of the the person who lodged the complaint; date of complaint; mode of lodging the complaint; copy of complaint and so on) regarding a department enquiry being conducted against him by the public authority on the basis of a complaint.
3. The CPIO vide his letter dated 20.10.2011, while providing the information/reply in respect of point Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 of the RTI application to the Appellant, denied the remaining information citing exemption under section 8(1)(g) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; and section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the RTI Act.
4. Aggrieved by the reply of the CPIO, the Appellant filed an appeal before the Appellate Authority on 29.10.2011. The Appellant, however, did not receive any reply from the Appellate Authority and thus filed the present appeal before the Commission.
5. During the hearing, the Respondents inform the Commission that the Appellate Authority had decided the Appellant’s appeal before him vide order dated 02.12.2011 wherein the Appellate Authority upheld the CPIO’s decision. They also mention that at the time of replying to the Appellant’s RTI application the enquiry in the matter was pending which has now been completed. However, the information in question still cannot be provided as it would endanger the physical safety of the person, who had lodged the complaint against the Appellant. Thus, according to them, the exemption u/s 8(1)(g) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; is still applicable to the disclosure of information in question.
6. Having heard the submissions and perused the records, the Commission concurs with the Respondents’ view that information in question [i.e. name and designation of the person who lodged the complaint against the Appellant (point No. 1); names of persons involved in the preliminary enquiry (point No. 8) and copy of original complaint (point No. 9)] attracts exemption u/s 8(1)(g) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; of the RTI Act as disclosure of said information would endanger the life or physical safety of the person/complainant.
7. In view of the above, the present appeal cannot be allowed and is rejected.
(Sushma Singh)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Amit Agrawal v. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) in Case No. CIC/SS/C/2012/900173