Can the names of reporting and reviewing officers of ACR be disclosed under RTI?
26 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to information (RTI) Act seeking information regarding his Annual Confidential Report (ACR) for 15 years. He wanted to know whether the adverse remarks were conveyed to him, the names of the reporting and reviewing officers etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided point wise information to appellant.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant was not present. However, in his appeal he pleaded for disclosure of the names of the reporting and reviewing officers which had been severed under the provisions of section 10 of the Act and were not provided to him. The PIO submitted that the severance had been done in order to avoid any acrimony of the appellant with the reporting and reviewing officers. The appellant submitted that he requires having knowledge of the names of the reporting and reviewing officers so as to fully satisfy himself that only authorized officers have reported and reviewed his performance. He also submitted that he was never communicated the 'below average' grading given to him which is contrary to the information provided to him by the PIO.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) did not agree with the response of the PIO and stated that the appellant is already aware of the identities of reporting and reviewing officer. The Commission directed the PIO to provide information regarding the names of the reporting and reviewing officers in respect of all the ACRs provided to the appellant. The Commissions advised the appellant to take recourse to the grievance redress forum offered by his Company to redress his grievance regarding the 'below average' grading given to him.
Comments
When copies of ACR/ APAR are being routinely provided to the government officers following the Dev Dutt judgment of the Supreme Court, the stand of the PIO show gross ignorance of law. Such appeals before the CIC are avoidable.
Citation: Mr. Jayshil H. Vora v. LIC of India in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2012/000022
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/677
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission