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TMI Blog2010 (7) TMI 716X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nder Section 11(1) RTI Act - Therefore, holds that the CIC was not justified in overruling the objection of the UOI on the basis of Section 11(1) of the RTI Act and-directing the UOI and the DoPT to provide copies of the documents as sought by Mr. Kejriwal. - 6614 of 2008 , 8999 of 2008 , 8407 of 2009 - - - Dated:- 30-7-2010 - S. Muralidhar, J. REPRESENTED BY : S/Shri Prashant Bhushan with Ms. Girija Kishan Verma and Rishikesh Kumar, Advocates, for the Assessee. S/Shri S.K. Dubey with Vanshdeep Dalmia and Abhinav Rao, Advocates, for the Department. [Judgment]. A short but interesting question arises for determination in these petitions arising out of an order dated 12th June 2008 [2010 (254) E.L.T. 87 (C.I.C.)], passed by the Central Information Commission ( CIC ). That question is whether the information seeker Mr. Arvind Kejriwal can be provided with copies of documents in the files concerning appointments at the levels of Deputy Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretary in the Government of India without the procedure outlined in Section 11(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 ( RTI Act ) having to be followed? 2. The CI ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Petitioner sought the following information : (i) Service-wise list of all the officers empaneled during Financial Years 2004-05 and 2005-06 for the posts of Deputy Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary above and date of empanelment of each officer. (ii) List of all posts of Deputy Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary above on which, appointments were made under Central Staffing Scheme (CSS) during the Financial Years 2004-05 and 2005-06. (iii) After the panels of suitable officers have been made, what is the procedure for appointing officers at various posts falling vacant at these levels. Which clause of the Central Staffing Scheme deals with the selection of officers from the panels and their final appointment? Please give copies of all Rules, Regulations etc. which guide this process. (iv) Inspection of all files, including file notings, through which the officers were picked up from panels for particular posts during the period from January, 2005 till date. (v) For each of the appointments done at these levels during the Financial Years 2003-04 and 2004-05 and till date in the current year, please indicate how the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e cases remanded by the Appellate Authority within one month and that the CPIO would find ways and means to provide information to the Appellant in the light of these discussions . It was noted that there seems to be no objection on the part of DoPT to provide information. The only issue is how to provide it considering its voluminous nature. 10. When the Petitioner went back to the CIC complaining of non-implementation of its directions, notices were again issued to the CPIOs by the CIC asking for a compliance report. As regards information concerning the appointments of Deputy Secretaries and Directors, the concerned CPIO informed the CIC by his letter dated 27th February 2007 that Mr. Kejriwal had already examined all the files, noted down their details and, therefore, the order of the CIC dated 14th July 2006 stood complied with. It was further submitted that copies of the examination report, files and notings include personal information of the officers and, as such, furnishing of the said information would attract Section 11(1) of the RTI Act. Since it was a major exercise it would also attract the provisions of Section 7(9) of the RTI Act. 11. As regards appointment ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... anelment of officers in the select list of Joint Secretary, Mr. Kejriwal was informed that the grounds for determining the eligibility had been laid down in the provisions of the Central Staffing Scheme ( CSS ), a copy of which had been provided to it . Mr. Kejriwal was informed that all the officers from a given batch were not sponsored by the respective cadre controlling authorities of Group A services in the earlier years . The reasons why the remaining officers were not sponsored for empanelment would be available with the respective cadre controlling authorities. Accordingly Mr. Kejriwal was provided a list of the services and the respective cadre controlling authorities. As regards the DoPT which was the cadre controlling authority in respect of the IAS, information was provided to Mr. Kejriwal. 15. Consequently, the only point that remained to be considered by the CIC was whether Mr. Kejriwal should be given copies of the documents which he had already inspected. As regards the information being of a voluminous nature, Mr. Kejriwal limited the information sought to the appointment of senior officers over a period of three years. Therefore, as regards the information co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the interests of such third party. (emphasis supplied) 19. According to Mr. Bhushan, the third party information is that information which is in fact provided by the third party and further should be asked by the said third party to be kept confidential. It is only when both these conditions are fulfilled that Section 11(1) of the RTI Act is attracted. In other words, although Section 11(1) of the RTI Act indicates that where the information sought relates to or has been supplied by a third party the word or should be read as and for only then the provision would be workable. It was submitted that unless the above interpretation is placed on Section 11(1), it will not be possible for a person to access information relating to appointments -to the various posts in the Government of India. 20. On the other hand, it was submitted by Mr. Dubey that there was no scope to substitute the word or with the word and and that since the statute was unambiguous it had to be read as such. He submitted that information pertaining to ACRs, vigilance reports etc., of an individual officer and their collation even in the form of a chart would be information perso ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nformation. 23. What is, however, important to note is that it is not as if such information is totally exempt from disclosure. When an application is made seeking such information, notice would be issued by the CIC or the CPIOs or the State Commission, as the case may be, to such third party and after hearing such third party, a decision will be taken by the CIC or the CPIOs or the State Commission whether or not to order disclosure of such information. The third party may plead a privacy defence. But such defence may, for good reasons, be overruled. In other words, after following the procedure outlined in Section 11(1) of the RTI Act, the CIC may still decide that information should be disclosed in public interest overruling any objection that the third party may have to the disclosure of such information. 24. Given the above procedure, it is not possible to agree with the submission of Mr. Bhushan that the word or occurring in Section 11(1) in the phrase information which relates to or has been supplied by a third party should be read as and . Clearly, information relating to a third party would also be third party information within the meaning of Section 11(1) of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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