Appellant sought copy of the file noting with comments of DGMS (Navy) staff relating to his transfer - CIC: Invoke Section 10 to adequately severe the details of other officers who have been discussed upon in the file notings as also any deployment detail
25 Jul, 2018Information sought:
The Appellant sought copy of the file noting with comments of DGMS (Navy) staff relating to his transfer to HQ 8 Mtn Div as DADH.
Grounds for the Second Appeal:
The CPIO has denied the desired information.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:-
Appellant: Represented by Angsuman Ojha, Advocate through VC.
Respondent: Cdr-At-Arms Somnath Ghosh, PIO, Surg Cdr Narayan S and Cdr Sandipani Padhi, IHQ of MoD (Navy) present in person.
CPIO submitted a written draft of his arguments stating that the information sought was denied 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; 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; 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; 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; 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; of the RTI Act as the file noting(s) on which the postings have been discussed is likely to contain the profile, specialisation, past appointments and likely future employability of officers including the location and operational status of the units concerned. It further states that these noting(s) would also contain details of more than one officer as a chain transfer is normally effected. It has been furthermore stressed therein and reiterated by the representatives of the Respondent office that posting/transfer of officers is carried out keeping in mind the force levels in operational units/establishments, career progression of officers, operational deployments, experience/expertise of officers etc. That the disclosure of information in public domain will allow the adversaries to deduce lacunae in operational readiness and the intended mission of the unit, thereby posing threat to assets of Indian Navy and the security of the country and even can be used to target defence personnel or their families. In this background, it is their opinion that noting(s) related to posting(s) of officers are exempt from disclosure.
Advocate of the Appellant stated that all that the Appellant wants to know the circumstances under which his particular transfer was effected. He also clarified that the Appellant does not want any security or deployment details or information about transfer of other officers but only the noting of DGMS (Navy) relating to his transfer.
In view of the Appellant’s request and contentions of the CPIO, Commission while partially allowing the claim of 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; 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; 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; 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; 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 having due regard to file noting(s) concerning other officers which would be exempt 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; explored the possibility of severing the portion where the case of Appellant is discussed in the file noting(s). To this the representatives of the Respondent office asserted that they are inclined towards offering an inspection of the relevant file noting(s) as per their service channel but providing its copy under RTI Act is strongly objected to for reasons cited above. It was also added that if disclosure of such amplitude is allowed it will have far reaching implications as it will set a precedent for many such requests being made under RTI Act which in turn will be detrimental to the collective interest of Indian Navy operations.
Advocate of the Appellant expressed unwillingness to inspect records and reiterated that only the portion pertaining to the Appellant be provided in physical form.
Decision
Commission finds the reservations of the CPIO and representatives of the respondent office bit too far stretched. It appears that the spirit of the RTI Act is being subsumed by an incessant intention to decline from even severing the records, without any reasonable cause. While adjudicating the matter under RTI Act, the insistence on providing inspection of the file noting(s) as per prescribed service channels is adversely viewed by the Commission. The application of 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; 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; 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; 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; 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; is accepted only for the locations and operational status of the units concerned, and the file noting(s) pertaining to third parties can at best 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. of the RTI Act.
However, it is the considered opinion of the Commission that when the Appellant is raising a very limited request seeking to only know the circumstances under which he was transferred as a matter of right to information, it is not conducive to the objective of the RTI Act to deny the limited information by citing the larger picture of security and sensitivity of Navy operations in a generic manner. It is not the CPIOs case that file noting(s) of this specific Appellant contains all these information which are exempt 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; 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; 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; 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; 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; but that “noting(s) related to officers” are considered exempt.
In the circumstances, Commission is only partially allowing the exemption of 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; 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; 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; 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; 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 applying 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. , if the file noting(s) contain data of other officers as well.
CPIO is directed to invoke Section 10 of the RTI Act to adequately severe the details of other officers who have been discussed upon in the file noting(s) as also any location or deployment details. This is to mean that the portions where Appellant’s transfer has been deliberated upon will be provided by the CPIO. CPIO is at liberty to either black out or extract the relevant information regarding the circumstances of Appellant’s transfer while applying Section 10. The extracted or blacked out information will be provided to the Appellant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.
The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
(Divya Prakash Sinha)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Rajesh Batlish v. Integrated HQ M/o Defence (Navy) in File No. : CIC/INAVY/A/2017/103441/SD, Date of Decision: 31/08/2017