The PIO had provided copies of caste certificate & educational qualification pertaining to third party to the appellant - CIC directed the PIO to be cautious in future in dealing with the RTI matters & strictly adhere to the provisions of the RTI Act
27 Nov, 2017ORDER
1. The appellant, Shri Shiv Godind submitted RTI application before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Hardoi seeking copies of educational qualification certificates, caste certificate submitted by Shri Awadhesh Kumar at the time of appointment in the school.
2. The CPIO after following the procedure u/s 11 of the RTI Act, 2005 denied the information to the appellant. Dissatisfied with the reply of the CPIO, the appellant filed an appeal before the first appellate authority (FAA). The FAA while upholding the decision of the CPIO held that the information sought pertained to third party and could not be provided u/s 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. of the RTI Act, 2005. The FAA also informed the appellant that in case he had any proof that Shri Awadhesh Kumar had taken appointment on submitting the false documents, the same could be brought to his notice and the School would take appropriate action the same.
3. Aggrieved, the appellant filed the instant appeal before the Commission on the grounds of no information having been provided to him by the respondent authority.
4. The matter was heard by the Commission. The appellant was not present in spite of a notice of hearing having been sent to him. The respondent CPIO stated that she had joined the School in May, 2015. The then CPIO denied the information after following the procedure of Section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005. The FAA also advised the appellant to submit proof in case Shri Awadhesh Kumar had been appointed by submitting false documents. On receipt of the Commission’s letter 23.05.2016, she had provided the educational qualification certificate, caste certificate of Shri Awadhesh Kumar to the appellant vide letter dated 28.060.2016.
5. The Commission observes that the CPIO had also provided copies of caste certificate and educational qualification pertaining to third party, which should not be provided to the appellant. The copies of certificates of educational qualification or caste is third party information and should not be provided before resorting to Section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005.
The CPIO is cautioned to be careful in future in dealing with the RTI matters and advised strictly adhere to the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005.
The appeal is disposed of.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Shiv Govind v. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Case No. CIC/RM/A/2014/003876/MP, Date of Decision: 19th July, 2017.