Property statements of civil servants not confidential: CIC

Rejecting the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) contention that property statements filed by civil servants should not be disclosed,chief information commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah on Thursday said these were not confidential and can be disclosed after taking the views of concerned officials as per the provisions of the RTI Act.

It is clear that the property statements are statements regarding private individuals serving in government and (they) become part of Government records, he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.Habibullah said these records cannot be treated as information held in confidence by the government.He said these records come in the category of personal information the disclosure of which could amount to invasion of privacy and would attract section 8(1)( j) of the RTI Act.There are 10 exemption clauses provided under the section 8(1) of the RTI Act,which exempt disclosure of different categories of information.Section 8(1)( j) exempts personal information from disclosure unless larger public interest is demonstrated by the RTI applicant.

The case relates to an RTI application filed by Shyam Lal Yadav where he sought details of property statements filed by bureaucrats and their relatives.Habibullah said in cases where information of personal nature is sought,section 11 (1) of the RTI Act also applies.Issue notice to third parties within five working days of receipt of this decision notice and proceed to disclose the information sought by appellant,if no viable objection based on exemption under section 8(1) is received within 10 days of the date of issue of such notice, he said.
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(source-toi)