Employee’s Official Details Cannot Be Disclosed Under RTI Act: Punjab and Haryana HC

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that information pertaining to the employee’s official details cannot be disclosed under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

The High Court has said that the place of posting, period of deputation, working hours, place of headquarter cannot be revealed as well as employee’s type of leaves taken, permission to leave the headquarter, copy of attendance register, and movement register under the Right To Information Act (RTI).

The court passed the ruling in a case where the State Information Commission, Haryana, in 2015 directed disclosure of such information, pertaining to a dental surgeon, to an applicant under the RTI Act.

The division bench of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Manisha Batra while setting aside the impugned orders of Single Judge and the Commission,observed that only information with regard to the date of appointment can be supplied under the RTI Act.

The court directed the health department to only provide information about the appointment date and made it clear that the rest of the information ordered to be supplied would not be provided.

It issued the order while hearing an intra-court appeal against a Single Judge Bench Order dismissing the Commission’s order. The dental surgeon whose information was ordered to be disclosed by the Commission filed the appeal.

In January 2015, the dental surgeon had filed a rape case in Karnal against a medical officer. The charges were framed against the accused in April 2015. She told the court that the accused had filed false complaints against her in order to harass, humiliate, and tarnish her reputation, including various applications under the Right to Information Act seeking her personal information.