Copy of complaint cannot be denied to the person against whom complaint is filed

Background        

The appellant had requested for the copy of the complaint made by a certain individual against him and had wanted to know why his request for the complaint had been earlier turned down. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the copy of the complaint under section 8(1)(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; and section 8(1)(c) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act stating that the disclosure would prejudicially affect the security of the Parliament.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the copy of the complaint cannot be denied to the appellant in this case since the complaint itself is against him. The Commission also held that if the complaint contains any reference to any such information which would prejudicially affect the security of the Parliament, those references may be deleted before disclosing the complaint itself. The Commission directed the PIO to provide to the appellant a photocopy of the complaint after severing the portion concerning the security of the Parliament. The Commission further held that if the PIO chooses to delete any reference of this nature, he should pass a speaking order justifying the deletion while providing the copy of the complaint.

Citation: Mr. Umed Singh Balyan v. Parliament Security Service, in File No.CIC/SM/A/2011/001655