The main legal point established in the judgment is that unless the information sought relates to human rights or corruption, exempt organizations like RAW are not required to disclose the information under the RTI Act.

Prathiba M. Singh, J.(Oral)

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. None appears for the Petitioner.

3. The present petition challenges the impugned order dated 30th October, 2017 by which the CIC has dismissed the appeal of the RTI Applicant and held that the RTI applicant is not entitled to get the information sought. The RTI applicant had sought the following information from the Directorate of Estates, Government of India on 23rd January, 2012:

"Certified copies of applications for allotment of government accommodation made by Shri S.K. Tripathi; IPS (UP; 1972) between 1986 to present"

4. The allegation of the RTI Applicant is that no reply was received from the CPIO. Thus, an appeal was filed to the First Appellate Authority. However, no reply was received from the First Appellate Authority. Accordingly, a second appeal was preferred to the CIC. It is the case of the Petitioner that a letter dated 8th May, 2017 was written by Mr. G.P. Sarkar- Deputy director of Estates (A-1) to the Registrar of CIC requesting closure of Petitioner's RTI application. The said letter, which has been annexed with the present petition reads as under:

"Sir/Madam,

I am to refer to your Appeal/Complaint No. CIC/VS/C/2012/000454 dated 28.03.2017 on the subject mentioned above and to inform you that Smt. Nisha Priya Bhatia vide her letter dtd. 30.01.2012 and appeal dated 03.03.2012 had requested to provide certified copies of applications for allotment of government accommodation made by Sh. S.K. Tripathi, IPS (UP; 1972) between 1986 to present. She was informed vide this Dte's letter of even number dated 11.5.2012 that the information sought could not be provided to her as the Department of Sh. Tripathy did not want to disclose the information since he was the head of an organization known as RAW and the application form contained some service details whose exposure might not be in functional interest of the organization known as RAW and the application form contained some service details whose exposure might not be in the functional interest of the organization. Copy of the letter is enclosed for your kind perusal and information.

2. In view of above, you are requested to close the Appeal/Complaint No. CIC/VS/C/2012/000454 dtd. 09.19.2012. ""

5. Thereafter, the impugned order has been passed by the CIC in the second appeal filed by the Petitioner. The finding of the CIC is that the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is covered by Section 24 as an exempt organization and no case of human rights or corruption is made out in the present case to attract the exception. The findings of the CIC are set out below:

"After hearing parties and perusal of record, the Commission notes that the appellant has sought certified copy of application for allotment of Government accommodation by Sh. S K Tripathi from 1986 till date. The issue which arises for consideration is as follows:

Whether application form for seeking Government accommodation, by a Government servant, deserves to be exempt from public disclosure on account of some confidential information which may be figuring in the application. For example, there are a number of personal details entered in the passport application form. These are essentially in the nature of private information and if disclosed would be a clear case of infringement of privacy. The allotment related details of official accommodation to Government employees are displayed on the website of Directorate of Estates. Hence a case of public interest is to be made out making available copies of application forms of individual Government employees to a third party. In any case, the provisions as laid out by the Section 11 of the RTI Act also have to be utilized in such cases.

In the instant case however, R&AW being a secret organization, the Cabinet Secretariat has taken the plea in their communication to the Directorate of Estates that R&AW being listed as one of the organizations in Section 24, Second Schedule of the RTI A