Copies of ACRs of the appellant were denied in view of interim stay order by Madras High Court - CIC: take action for providing the scores depending on the outcome of the court case; provide the cut off marks for the promotion from Scale I to Scale II
12 May, 2014Facts:
1. The appellant, Mr. Vikas Negi, had submitted the RTI application dated 18 December 2012 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), United India Insurance Co. Ltd, Chennai; seeking a photocopy of his Annual Confidential Report for last five years and also information pertaining to Fast Track Channel of Promotion Exercise 2012-13 for Promotion from ScaleI to Scale II through a total of 4 points.
2. Vide reply dated 06 December 2012, the CPIO denied the information by claiming the exemption of section 8(1)(b) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court; of the RTI Act, 2005 on point 1, of section 8(1)(g) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; & (j) on point 2 & 3 and of 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. on point 4. Not satisfied by the CPIO’s reply, the appellant preferred an appeal dated 13 December 2012 to the first appellate authority (FAA). Vide order dated 29 January 2013, FAA upheld the CPIO’s decision.
3. Not satisfied by the above response of the public authority, the appellant preferred second appeal before the Commission.
4. The matter was heard today via videoconferencing. The appellant, Shri Vikas Negi, participated in the hearing in person. Shri L. Rangarajan, CPIO and Shri R. Govindarajan, Dy Manager (Personnel Department) participated in the hearing from Chennai.
5. The appellant stated that as mentioned in his RTI request, he wanted to have the copies of his ACRs for the years 2007-08 to 2011-12 along with the score given to him, the marks obtained by all officers in Fast Track Channel of Promotion Exercise 2012-13 for promotion to Scale I from Scale II along with ranking list and cut off marks of promoted officers.
6. The respondents stated that the copies of ACRs cannot be given in view of the interim stay order in cases W.P. No.22500 of 2013 and W.P. No. 4239 of 2011 at Madras High Court. The information about ranking of other candidates and the marks obtained by them in the interview is personal in nature and 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 being third party information. While the ACRs and the score thereof and information about other officers cannot be provided, the cut off marks for selection under the promotion exercise can be given.
Decision Notice
7. The CPIO will take action for providing the scores thereof from the year 2007-08 to 2011-12 depending on the outcome of the court case. The CPIO will, however, provide the cut off marks for the promotion exercise from Scale I to Scale II for general and SC&ST candidates within one week of the receipt of the order of the Commission.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Mr. Vikas Negi v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd in Appeal: No. CIC/VS/A/2013/000712/MP