Govt officers' service matters open under RTI:CIC

New Delhi, Jan 29 (UNI) Information relating to the service matters of a government official was in public domain and can be supplied to an appellant, the Central Information Commission has ruled.

The Commission's decision came on an application of Mr S P Parashar of Delhi, who had sought the information from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

He wanted certified copies of the correspondence between the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and the Ministry relating to the proposal of counting of past Army service of Deputy Director (Administration) J L Kaushik for pension purposes, and certified copies of the approval of the competent authorities.

The Ministry refused to give the information on the grounds that it was personal information the disclosure of which had no relationship to any public activity or interest and which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual.

Thereafter, Mr Prashar approached the Commission which came to the conclusion that the information asked for was in the public domain as the officer's service matters were related to departmental affairs, and it could be furnished to the appellant in the interest of transparency.

The Commission directed the Ministry to provide the information asked for by the appellant within 15 days of the issue of the order.

UNI