Disciplinary proceedings details are exempt under RTI Act as they pertain to personal information with no public interest.

O R D E R

1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), O/o. The Pr.Commissioner of Customs (A&A), Kolkata seeking following information:-

1. “All file notings, note sheets rerating to the sanction order for prosecution issued on 19-12-2018 against Sri. Manoj Kumar the then Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, presently posted as Superintendent of custom (preventive), custom House, Kolkata.

2. Relied upon documents filed in the aforesaid matter for issuing the said sanction.”

2. The CPIO responded on 11-03-2019. The appellant filed the first appeal dated 23-04-2019 which was disposed of by the first appellate authority on 20-06- 2019. Thereafter, he filed a second appeal u/ Section 19 (3) of the RTI Act before the Commission requesting to take appropriate legal action against the CPIO u/ Section 20 of the RTI Act, 2005 and also to direct him to provide the sought for information.

Hearing:

3. The appellant, Mr. Subhash Dubey was represented by Mr. S A Saud through audio conferencing. Ms. S. Mukopadhyay, CPIO participated in the hearing representing the respondent through audio conferencing. The written submissions are taken on record.

4. The representative of the appellant contended that the chargesheet has already been filed and hence, no public interest would be harmed if sought information is provided in the matter where investigation is already complete.

5. The respondent contended that the performance of an employee in an organization is a matter between the employer and employee covered by the ratio of the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commissioner &Ors., (2013) 1 SCC 212. Therefore, the exemption u/ Section 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 is applicable in this case.

Decision:

6. This Commission observes that the details of the disciplinary proceedings initiated against the employee of the public authority cannot be provided to the appellant, as it is a matter between employer and employees covered by the ratio of the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commissioner &Ors., (2013) 1 SCC 212, wherein, it was observed as under:-

“13. We are in agreement with the CIC and the courts below that the details called for by the petitioner i.e. copies of all memos issued to the third respondent, show cause notices and orders of censure/punishment etc. are qualified to be personal information as defined in clause (j) of Section 8 (1) of the RTI Act. The performance of an employee/officer in an organization is primarily a matter between the employee and the employer and normally those aspects are governed by the service rules which fall under the expression “personal information”, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or public interest.”

7. In view of the foregoing, this Commission comes to the conclusion that the appellant has not shown any larger public interest in the matter and hence, the exemption claimed by the CPIO u/ Section 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 is being upheld.

8. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.