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| Salary statement is personal document, can't be given under RTI: SIC | | | Early Times Report
srinagar, Nov 12: The State Information Commission (SIC) has said that salary statement is a personal document of a public servant and hence cannot be provided under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Details available with Early Times reveal that an appeal under the RTI was filed before the SIC by one Jahangir Abdullah Dar, a resident of Zabgulla, Beerwah in central Kashmir's Budgam district on 08.09.2015.
The RTI was filed against the First Appellate Authority (FAA) of Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK), PIO/Chief Education Officer (CEO) Budgam, and Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) Beerwah. The appeal States that the appellant had filed an RTI application before the PIO/CEO Budgam on 05.06.2015. That CEO did not provide him information after which he filed first appeal on 20.07.2015 before FAA DSEK.
The FAA being quasi-judicial authority was supposed to dispose off the case by giving opportunity to the appellant. But neither the appellant was called for hearing nor any order was passed.
Accordingly, the appellant filed appeal under Section 16 of the Act with the prayer that PIO responsible be penalized, appellant may be paid compensation of Rs 2000 and FAA (Joint Director DSEK) be warned that necessary action be initiated against him.
As per documents enclosed with the appeal filed before SIC, ZEO Beerwah has responded to the RTI application on 11.07.2015 in reference to the RTI application received by him from CEO's office on 8.06.2015 wherein he has denied information in respect of salary statement citing it as personal information.
Similarly, ZEO Hardpanzoo, Budgam has responded to the RTI application on 23.07.2015 by enclosing salary statement and GPF drawl statement of one Mohammad Abdullah Dar, former teacher. In response to the notice of the Commission, Suriya Akther, FAA/Joint Director, DSEK has filed reply stating that the appeal was disposed off with the directions to the PIO/CEO Budgam to instruct the PIO, ZEO Beerwah to provide the pending information to the information seeker immediately under J&K RTI Act.
The SIC's order issued on 4.11.2015 reads: "The Commission noted that ZEO Beerwah has refused to provide salary statement and GPF drawl statement of Mohammad Abdullah Dar, ex-teacher stating that personal information of the Government employee cannot be provided unless and until the employee himself asked for it. On the other hand, ZEO Hardpanzoo has provided the salary statement and GPF drawl statement of the said teacher to the appellant. At point 1 of the RTI application, the appellant has sought salary drawn statement, GPF statement and categorical withdrawal certificate of GP Fund of Mohammad Abdulah Dar who is reportedly the uncle of the information seeker Jehangir Abdullah Dar. At Point2, he has stated that he has sought written consent of his uncle as being 3rd party under Section 11 of the RTI Act 2009. This has been responded by the ZEO Beerwah vide letter dated 11.07.2015 stating that personal information of any Government employee cannot be provided unless and until the employee himself deserve, that too regarding the salary component which is clearly envisaged in RTI Act 2009, hence no information is provided.
"The Commission is of the view that the salary statement of the Government Employee is personal information, which cannot be disclosed unless disclosure of such information is in larger public interest as has been upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of Shri Girish Ramachandra versus Central Information Commission. In the instant case, no public interests have been shown by the appellant. Further, the process of seeking consent under Section 11 has to be invoked by the PIO and mere by enclosing the consent statement by the appellant shall not confer right on the information seeker to seek information of 3rd party. The Commission would, however, like to clarify that an official can seek his or her salary statement from the PIO, as there is no bar in disclosure of a personal information to the person to whom it pertains to, especially, when it relates to the drawl of Salary/GPF statement, which the head of the institution/DDO is otherwise obliged to provide without taking recourse to RTI Act.
"Therefore, plea taken by ZEO Beerwah in respect of Point 1 is upheld. Information in respect of Point 3 has been provided. In so far as information on Point 4 regarding dispatch register from dispatch No. 100/2007 till date of Middle School Kullhama Zone Beerwah is concerned, the Commission is of the view that providing copy of dispatch register for a period of around 8 years would disproportionally divert the resources of the Public Authority. Accordingly, CEO Budgam shall direct the concerned ZEO to allow inspection of dispatch register for above period to the information seeker and take relevant extracts thereafter within two weeks.
"The Commission has noted that FAA has acted casually by directing CEO to disclose personal information of a 3rd Party without following the procedure of informing 3rd Party as laid down in Section 11 and in accordance with decision of the Supreme Court in the case referred to here-in-above. The Commission, therefore, advises the FAA to pass orders on first appeal after due diligence and after considering relevant decision of courts and SIC in this regard." |
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