Can the details of the complainants be disclosed under RTI?

Background

The appellant sought the name, father’s name, designation, address of signatory of the complainants who had signed the complaint made to the branch manager of LIC. The Public Information Officer (CIC) denied the information 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 Right to Information (RTI) Act. During the hearing, the appellant submitted that she had been provided with a copy of the complaint letter which bears only the signatures of all the complainants.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the PIO to provide the full name of each of the complainants along with their designation and office address to the appellant. The Commission observed that rest of the information cannot be disclosed 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. of the RTI Act.

Citation: Sh. K.C. Malhotra v. LIC of India in Appeal No. CIC/DS/A/2011/002168