Appellant: Certified copy of the complaint and copies of the proceedings were denied by NHRC u/s 8(1)(j) - CIC: Information relates to personal information of a third party, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public interest; Denial upheld

ORDER

1.        The appellant filed an online application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi, seeking information/documents on four points pertaining to the complaint filed against him by one Ms. Neeru K.S. R/o 62-B, Pocket-A, SFS DDA, Sukhdev Vihar, New Delhi- 110025, including, inter-alia,

(i) certified copy of the complaint alongwith enclosures, and

(ii) certified copies of the proceedings conducted in this regard in chronological order

2. The appellant filed a second appeal before the Commission on the ground that the respondent and the FAA have not provided information on the plea that the information sought is exempted from disclosure 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; of the RTI Act. He further averred that the copy of the postal receipt vide which the reply was sent to him was also not provided to him by the FAA. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide information/documents under RTI Act.

Hearing:

3. The appellant was not present despite notice. The respondent, Shri
   Khallel Ahmad, Dy. Registrar, NHRC, New Delhi was present in person.
4. The respondent submitted that since the information sought was third party information, the third party concerned (Ms. Neeru K.S.) vide letter dated 22.02.2018 was issued a notice under Section 11(1) Where a Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose any information or record, or part thereof on a request made under this Act, which relates to or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by that third party, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall, within five days from the receipt of the request, give a written notice to such third party of the request and of the fact that the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose the information or record, or part thereof, and invite the third party to make a submission in writing or orally, regarding whether the information should be disclosed, and such submission of the third party shall be kept in view while taking a decision about disclosure of information: of the RTI Act seeking her consent with regard to disclosure of information. Ms. Neeru K.S. vide letter dated 27.02.2018 had objected to the disclosure of the information sought for Further, no larger public interest would be served by the disclosure of information. Hence, disclosure of the information sought for is exempted 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 the RTI Act.

Decision:

The Commission, after hearing the submissions of the respondent and perusing the records, observes that the information sought for relates to personal information of a third party, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public interest and would cause an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the third party. Hence, its disclosure is exempted 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 the RTI Act. In view of this, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the matter.

6. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
7. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.

Sudhir Bhargava

Chief Information Commissioner

Citation: Atik Gupta v. The CPIO, National Human Rights Commission in Second Appeal No. CIC/NHRCM/A/2018/136747, Date of decision:10.10.2019