RTI application seeking service details of ex- employee
19 Apr, 2012Background
The appellant sought for the service details of one of the retired bank employee like terminal benefits, tax deduction, disciplinary action, causes for medical leave etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the same 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 claiming it to be the personal information of the employee.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission directed the PIO to disclose all the information except the causes for medical leave observing that section 8 (1) (j) cannot be applied when the information concerns institutions, organizations or corporates.
The Commission observed that various Public Authorities routinely ask for 'personal' information from citizens in performing their functions and when a citizen provides any information in discharge of a statutory obligation, it is clearly a public activity and disclosure of the same cannot be an intrusion on privacy. The Commission further stated that PIOs should test refusal 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.
with the proviso which states that, “provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or the State legislature shall not be denied to any person”. PIO should realise that most of the information in this case would have to be given to the appellant and cannot be denied 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.
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Comments
The conflicting decisions of the various benches of the Commission in respect of cases relating to personal information is a pointer to the need of a personal privacy law.
Citation: Dr. Naresh Kundra v. Indian Overseas Bank in File No. CIC/SG/A/2012/000342
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/218
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission