Govt Employee Entitled To Seek Own ACR Under RTI, State Cannot Deny Information On Privacy Grounds: MP High Court
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that an employee is entitled to seek copies of their own Annual Confidential Reports under the Right to Information Act, if no other alternative remedy is left and the State cannot deny such information by invoking the privacy exemption under the Act. The bench of Justice Deepak Khot observed; "the applicant has no option except to apply under RTI and in...
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that an employee is entitled to seek copies of their own Annual Confidential Reports under the Right to Information Act, if no other alternative remedy is left and the State cannot deny such information by invoking the privacy exemption under the Act.
The bench of Justice Deepak Khot observed;
"the applicant has no option except to apply under RTI and in no case such exception can be carved out to reject the application on the ground that objective satisfaction in context of public interest outweighing the privacy has not been recorded. Thus, the public interest has to be construed while keeping in mind the balance factor between right to privacy and right to information with the purpose sought to be achieved and the purpose that would be served in the larger public interest, particularly when both these rights emerge from the constitutional values under the Constitution of India".
The State had filed a writ petition challenging the order of the Chief Information Officer directing disclosure of information sought by the government employee seeking his ACRs under the RTI Act.
The State argued that the information sought was exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, which exempts disclosure of personal information that could cause unwarranted invasion of privacy. The State contended that both the Public Information Officer and the Appellate Authority had rightly rejected the application, but the State Information Commissioner erred in directing disclosure.
The court rejected the contention of the State and relied on the Supreme Court judgment of Dev Dutt, wherein it was held that all entries in employees' ACR must be communicated within a reasonable time in the interest of fairness and transparency in public administration. The Supreme Court held that any governmet order prohibiting such communication would violate Article 14 of the Constitution.
The bench noted that, in the present case, the employee had sought access only to his ACRs and therefore disclosure of such information could not be treated as an invasion of privacy. The court emphasized that where ACRs are not otherwise communicated to an employee, seeking them under the RTI Act becomes the only available remedy.
Accordingly, the bench held that no exception could be created to reject such an application merely on the ground that a specific finding balancing public interest against privacy had not been recorded. Thus, the bench held that the concepts of privacy and access to information must be harmoniously balanced in light of constitutional principles.
Therefore, the bench affirmed the impugned order of December 1, 2009, and dismissed the petition.
Case Title: State of Madhya Pradesh v Chief Information Commissioner, WP-10464-2010
For State: Government Advocate Suyash Thakur
For Respondent no 1: Advocate Priyan Shrivastava