The main legal point established is the need to balance transparency and other public interests under the RTI Act, preventing misuse or abuse of the Act and harmonizing conflicting public interests.

JUDGMENT :

S.C. Parija, J. - This writ petition has been filed for quashing of the order of the Central Information Commission dated 13.2.2015 (Annexure-4) and to direct the Central Public Information Officer (opposite party no.3) to provide the required information sought for by the petitioner.

2. The brief facts of the case is that the petitioner, who is an employee of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited ('BSNL' for short), made an application under Section 6 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 ('RTl Act' for short) to the Central Public Information Officer (opposite party no.3), seeking information as detailed in Annexure-1 to the application, which reads as under :

"I. How many prepaid mobile connections are working in Odisha Circle as on 31.12.2013.

II. Kindly provide the particulars of prepaid connections working in Odisha Circle without data entry (Name & Address etc.) as on 31.12.2013. (To be provided in DVD).

Sl. Mobile No. Activation Date of SIM card issued to customer by whom

III. Kindly provide particulars of activation of 'Hello Tune' on prepaid mobiles in the month of October 2013 as per following format (To be provided in DVD).

Sl. Mobile No. Date of Activation 'Hello Tune' Activated of by whom Amount deducted

IV. Kindly provide the stay particulars of all the staff working in the G.M. (CMTS) unit as per the following format.

Sl. Name Desgn Station Date since working"

3. No action having been taken by the opposite party no.3 for supply of the. information sought for, the petitioner preferred appeal under Section 19(1) of the RTI Act before the 1st appellate authority (opposite party no.2), praying for a direction to the opposite party no.3 to furnish the information sought for by the petitioner. As the 1st appellate authority did not take any steps in the matter, the petitioner filed second appeal under Section 19(2) of the RTI Act, before the Central Information Commission (opposite party no.!), who vide its order dated 13.2.2015 (Annexure-4), has held that the information sought for by the petitioner is not in larger public interest and therefore, the same cannot be provided. The operative portion of the order reads as under :

"The appellant's representative has not established any larger public interest, which would warrant a directive to the respondent to collect and compile the information, sought by him, even at the cost of diverting their resources from day to day work. In the above circumstances we are unable to provide any relief."

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the impugned order passed by the Central Information Commission is wholly improper and illegal, inasmuch as, there is no provision in the RTI Act for rejecting the application in larger public interest.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner with reference to Sections 3 and 4 of the RTI Act submits that the petitioner has the right to have access to the information sought for by him and the opposite party no.3 has the corresponding obligation to provide all such information and therefore, the rejection of the petitioner's application on the plea that the same is not in larger public interest cannot be sustained in law.

6. Learned counsel for the opposite party no.3 with reference to the counter affidavit submits that the information sought for by the petitioner is huge and voluminous, contained in several files and it is not possible to compile the details of information in the format designed by the petitioner, without disproportionately diverting the resources of the public authority. It is submitted that the information sought for by the petitioner is unrelated to transparency and accountability and/or eradication of corruption and that such information has been sought for, only to harass the public authority. It is further submitted that the petitioner is an employee of BSNL and has a service related grievance and he has been filing numerous RTI applications in the garb of seeking information, only to settle personal scores and t