PIO: copy of the documents/certificates submitted by the employee are personal information & exempt from disclosure to third party u/s 8(1)(j) - CIC: order of PIO upheld as there is no public interest in disclosure; provide copy of the appointment letter

Information sought:

The appellant has sought the following information:-

Provide the certified copies of the appointment letter and other provisional certificates of Sh. Mithilesh Kumar, Dak Assistant submitted at the time of appointment at Chandi Post Office

Grounds for the Second Appeal: The CPIO has not provided the information.

Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:

The following were present Appellant: Mr. Sanjay Kumar Singh through VC Respondent: Mr. Praveen Kumar CPIO’s representative through VC

The appellant stated that he needs copy of the appointment letter of Shri Mithlesh Kumar and the documents/certificates submitted by him for obtaining employment. The CPIO’s representative stated that copy of the appointment letter will be provided, however, the other information (viz. copy of the documents/certificates submitted by the employee) are personal information and exempt from disclosure to third party 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 notice:

As agreed by the CPIO’s representative a copy of the appointment letter of Shri Mithlesh Kumar should be provided to the appellant forthwith. As regards the other information sought by the appellant (viz. copies of documents/certificates submitted by Shri Mithlesh Kumar) it is fairly obvious that these are in the nature of personal information about a third party. The employee might have filed these documents before the appointing authority for the purpose of seeking employment, but that is not reason enough for this information to be brought in to the public domain to which anybody could have access. Apart from this, we do not see any public purpose which the disclosure of this information would serve. Hence, we concur with the submissions of the CPIO’s representative that the information is exempt from disclosure 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. The appeal is disposed of accordingly.

BASANT SETH

Information Commissioner

Citation: Mr. Sanjay Kumar Singh v. Department of Posts in File No. CIC/BS/A/2013/001144/5392