suryagaurav (manager) 14 December 2011

Pio denying information

I requested the PIO of my Department (of a State Government) for a copy of the proceedings initiated against my colleague, by which a judicial inquiry had been initiated against the latter for gross misconduct. I also asked for the file containing all the documents collected against the colleague as also the information about the evidence collected against him. The inquiry is yet to be completed and action, as applicable, yet to be taken.
Now my dilemma is :-
(1)- Which of the information asked for can be given? Which information cannot be given? Why not? Can the reason for denying any of the information be just that the person asking for it is an employee and the information also pertains to an employee? If yes, why? If no, why?. Pls help it is urgent for me.
(2)-At this stage itself, if the information is denied by the Department concerned, can it be obtained from the court (inquiring into the matter) which would also be holding the information and which is a higher authority in this case? What are the chances that the Court would be a Competent Authority under the `RTI Act, 2005`?

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2 Replies

Pvt_RajKing (Private) 14 December 2011

Firstly, please provide us the reply or the reasons for denying the information as given by the PIO. Then we can see if the PIO is correct or not...

Generally, all information relating to inquiry should be accessible but they may make a cae at this time stating that the matter is in active consideration and thus it may be prejudicial to the proceeding and thus denying the information... but once the proceeding is over then it should be definitely acessible... I will let other members to chime in. You can also search rtiindia.org for more details as there may be a discussion on the same...

But, as far as the civil/criminal court, every document and in every stage is accessible as they are 100% public documents. Only those documents that the judge declares to be kept as secret until the conclusion of the proceedings will not be accessible. You don't need to use the civil/criminal rules practice to access them. You can use RTI and get all documents...I have done it few times...

Now, having said the above, if a judicial/quasi judicial proceedings are initiated under the power of a civil court then the same should be applicable to that proceedings as well.. But I don't think that the inquiry of employee for misconduct would fall under judicial proceedings.. I don't know but if the answer is yes then all the information should be accessible at all stage (unless the PIO can justify prejudice to the parties)....

Hope this helps!!!