Can the investigation report be disclosed to the initial complainant?
25 Apr, 2012Background
The applicant had filed a complaint with the CVC against an employee of railways. He later filed the RTI application seeking information related to his complaint like, name of the investigating agency; date of the commencement of investigation; copy of final report etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO) furnished partial information and transferred the application to the PIO, Railway Board for rest of the information. The appellant did not receive any information regarding the investigation report. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) denied for the disclosure of the investigation report under section 8(1) (e) & 8(1) (g) of the RTI Act stating that the investigation report contains names of the investigating officers, name of the witnesses, their statement etc. which, if disclosed, may expose the life of the officers/persons, who contributed in the investigation process, to danger.
View of CIC
The appellant argued that the denial of the FAA for the disclosure of investigation report to him was incorrect since it was his complaint on the basis of which the public authority had conducted the said investigation and prepared a report. The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the PIO to furnish the copies of investigation report and other relied upon documents, except for copies of the statements of witnesses, after severing from it, under section 10(1) Where a request for access to information is rejected on the ground that it is in relation to information which is exempt from disclosure, then, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, access may be provided to that part of the record which does not contain any information which is exempt from disclosure under this Act and which can reasonably be severed from any part that contains exempt information. of the RTI Act, the names of the Investigation officer and the names of witnesses which attract the exemption under Section 8(1) (g) of the RTI Act.
Citation: Shri J.P. Singh v. Ministry of Railways in File No. CIC/AD/A/2012/000187
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/231
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