Disclosure of personal information is exempt under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act when it does not serve public interest.

O R D E R

1. The complainant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), The Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited, Kochi seeking following information:-

1. “Furnish the copy of the advt. published for the appointment of Public Relation Officer in FACT Ltd in year 2018.

2. Furnish the details of the educational qualification of Smt. Anusree who was appointed as Public relation officer.

3. Furnish all the copies of certificates submitted by Smt. Anusree regarding educational qualification and experience.

4. Copies of any other certificate submitted by Smt. Anusree.

5. Furnish the no. of candidates who applied for the post of Public Relation Officer with concerned list.

6. Furnish the no. of candidates who attended the written test for the post of Public Relation Officer with their list and educational qualification certificates. ”

2. The CPIO responded on 18-06-2019. The complainant filed the first appeal dated 04-07-2019 which was disposed of by the first appellate authority on 15-11- 2019. Thereafter, he filed a complaint u/ Section 18 of the RTI Act before the Commission requesting to take appropriate legal action against the CPIO u/ Section 20 of the RTI Act, 2005.

Hearing:

3. The complainant, Mr. Sanjeeva Balkur attended the hearing through audio conferencing. Mr. R Krishnan, CPIO participated in the hearing representing the respondent through audio conferencing. The written submissions are taken on record.

4. The complainant stated the CPIO has wrongly claimed exemption u/ Section 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 in respect of point nos. 2, 3 & 4 and therefore, an appropriate action should be initiated against the CPIO for not providing this information till date.

5. The respondent submitted that they have already provided the admissible information to the complainant on point nos. 1, 5 & 6 as per the RTI Act, 2005 vide their letter dated 18-06-2019. However, the information sought on point nos. 2, 3 & 4 pertains to the educational qualification of some other candidate(s) and therefore, they have claimed the exemption u/ Section 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005.

Decision:

6. This Commission observes that the respondent has rightly claimed exemption u/ Section 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 for denying the educational qualification document(s) submitted by some other candidate(s) since there is no larger public interest in the matter and its disclosure would cause unwarranted invasion of their privacy. This legal position has been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its order dated 06-08-2013 in the Civil Appeal No. 6362/2013 titled as UPSC v. Gourhari Kamila . Hence, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the matter.

7. With the above observations, the complaint is disposed of.