Are the documents related to pension personal to an individual?
15 Jan, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Accountant General seeking information regarding the pension matters of the teachers of the Government Girls High School in general and about a particular retired teacher as well. The Public Information Officer (PIO) transferred some of the queries to the State Government authorities stating that the desired information related to them. He denied the information regarding the retired teacher 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. of the RTI Act stating that it was personal information.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that just like the salary paid to an employee during the service period, the pension is paid after retirement. The CIC ruled that the documents filed by a pensioner for grant of pension are similar to the documents which entitle an employee to receive his salary and both cannot be said to be personal information. The Commission directed the PIO to provide the copy of these documents to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. Puran Singh v. the Accountant General in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/000820
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/959
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