Does the public authority holds ACRs of its employees in fiduciary capacity?
31 Dec, 2012
Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Punjab National Bank requesting for a copy of his annual entry assessed and reviewed by the competent authorities. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; of the RTI Act.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant stated that he is seeking information about his own self so the exemption section quoted by the public authority is not relevant. The appellant also said that the assessing officer had given an excellent entry of over 89% marks but the reviewing authority had downgraded him by two notches to 69%. The respondent explained that this information was protected under section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; of the RTI Act and hence it was denied to the appellant on the grounds of fiduciary information.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the appellant is seeking performance related information about his own self where section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; will not apply. The CIC directed the PIO to provide to the appellant the information sought in the RTI application.
Citation: Mr. Sarabjit Singh v. Punjab National Bank in Decision No. CIC/SM/A/2011/002657/VS/01502
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/922
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission