Information regarding documents concerning disposal of appellant’s appeal against the order passed by the Disciplinary Authority was denied u/s 8(1)(e) - CIC: Since the disciplinary proceedings are over, there is no ground to deny the information
9 Sep, 2017Information sought
This matter concerns an RTI application filed by the Appellant, seeking information on two points regarding documents concerning disposal of his appeal against the order passed by the Disciplinary Authority, which had been declined by the Authority vide order dated 4.2.2015. The CPIO reply The CPIO denied the information under section 8 (1) (e) of the RTI Act.
Grounds of the First Appeal
Not satisfied with the CPIO’s reply.
Order of the First Appellate Authority
The FAA upheld the CPIO’s reply.
Grounds of the Second Appeal
Not satisfied with the response of the Respondents.
Relevant facts emerging during the Hearing, Discussion and Decision
The Appellant was not present in spite of a written notice having been sent to him.
In response to our query, the Respondents stated that disciplinary action was taken against the Appellant and the penalty of reduction in scale was imposed on him by the disciplinary authority in 2012. In 2013, he made an appeal to the Appellate Authority against the above order of the disciplinary authority. The appeal has also been disposed of and the proceedings are over. The Respondents submitted that the information sought was regarding the notings concerning disposal of the above appeal by the Appellate Committee and the comments etc. made on the appeal by the above committee. The Respondents stated that the above information cannot be provided as these are internal documents of the bank.
2. We have considered the records and the submissions of the Respondents and note that there was no ground to invoke Section 8 (1) (e) of the RTI Act to deny the information in this case. Since the disciplinary proceedings are over, there is no ground to deny the information sought by the Appellant. Therefore, the CPIO is directed to provide it, free of charge, within twenty days of the receipt of this order, under intimation to the Commission.
3. With the above direction and observations, the appeal is disposed of.
4. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
(Sharat Sabharwal)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Shiv Kumar Gupta v. UCO Bank in File No. CIC/SH/A/2016/001227, Date of decision: 19th July 2017