Should information extending over 10 years about all government employees be provided?
8 Feb, 2013An application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details of all the appointments, transfers and retirement of all the government employees of Maharashtra in past 10 years.
The Public Information Officer (PIO) rejected the application stating that it was very wide and irrelevant and cited Section 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. of the RTI Act which states that the information may not be provided in the form in which it is sought if it disproportionately diverts the resources of the public authority. The PIO offered the applicant to inspect the records for which he didn’t turn up.
The applicant then approached the State Information Commission of Maharashtra. The Chief Information Commissioner has rejected the appeal citing the High Court observation according to which, securing information just for the sake of it and without any public purpose puts enormous pressure on the government machinery. The CIC also stated that citizens should go for only that information which would promote transparency as the PIOs have to perform their statutory duties also.