Information regarding the disciplinary action on the basis of which the payment of appellant’s father’s commission had been stopped was denied u/s 8(1)(h) - Respondent: Departmental proceedings have now concluded - CIC: Furnish a revised reply

O R D E R

1. The appellant filed an online application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) Life Insurance Corporation of India, Naupatna, Cuttack. The appellant seeking information is as under:-

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2. The CPIO vide letter dated 20-02-2021 had denied the information as sought by the appellant under section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of RTI Act, 2005. Being dissatisfied with the same, the appellant has filed first appeal dated 22-03-2021 and requested that the information should be provided to him. FAA vide order dated 31-03-2021 upheld CPIO’s reply and disposed of the appeal. He has filed a second appeal before the Commission on the ground that information sought has not been provided to him and requested to direct the respondent to provide complete and correct information.

Hearing:

3. Adv. Jagruti Sahu (Representative of Appellant) attended the hearing through video conferencing. The respondent, Shri Kanak Durga, Manager (CRM) attended the hearing through video-conferencing.

4. The respondent submitted their written submission vide letter dated 25.11.2022 and the same has been taken on record.

5. The representative of appellant reiterated the contents of the RTI application and submitted that the desired information had wrongly been denied to the appellant by the respondent on his RTI application dated 02.02.2021.

6. The respondent submitted that vide their letter dated 20.02.2021, they have already informed the appellant that “Commission under the Agency Code 419477 in the name of Tunanananda Swain is not paid pending disciplinary action for alleged misappropriation of Policy holder’s money. Details of the same is denied under Section 8 (1) (h) of RTI Act, 2005.”

Decision:

7. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of both the parties and after perusal of records, observes that the appellant has sought information regarding the disciplinary action on the basis of which the payment of his father’s commission had been stopped. It has been observed that initially, the respondent had invoked section 8 (1) (h) of RTI Act while denying information to the appellant as the departmental proceeding was pending at the time of filing of RTI application. As the disclosure of such information would impede the process of investigation, therefore the requested information had been denied under above said provision of RTI Act. The respondent has orally submitted that the departmental proceedings has now been concluded.

8. In light of the above observations, the Commission deems it fit to direct the respondent to furnish a revised reply vide which copy of relevant note sheets/ orders passed in the said departmental proceedings related to the stopping of his father’s commission should be provided to the appellant duly certified as per their official records within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.

9. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.

10. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.

Neeraj Kumar Gupta

Information Commissioner

Citation: Mr. Rakesh Kumar Swain v. Life Insurance Corporation of India, Second Appeal No. CIC/LICOI/A/2021/132108; 12-12-2022