Supreme Court rejects plea for disclosure of the ACR of public servants
20 Apr, 2013A Supreme Court bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya rejected a petition seeking disclosure of the annual performance appraisal reports (APARs), earlier known as Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs), of a public servant. The SC upheld the order of the Delhi High Court that the annual performance appraisal reports (APARs), previously known as ACRs, of a public servant were personal information and are not liable to be disclosed under the RTI Act, 2005.
On an appeal filed by R K Jain's plea challenging the judgment of the division bench of the High Court, the SC found no reason to interfere with the impugned judgment. Jain had sought disclosure of alleged "adverse" remarks in ACR of Jyoti Balasundaram, a member of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) in 2000-01. He had filed an application under the RTI Act with the Principal Information Officer (PIO) of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) who refused to "divulge any information on the ground that it was exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j). The Central Information Commission (CIC) rejected the appeal of Jain and this order was upheld by the Single member bench of HC.