Public servants' official identity can't be personal information: CIC

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) Identity of public servants performing official duties cannot be treated as personal information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled. The CIC made the ruling while directing the Railways in two separate cases to disclose the names and designations of Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs). Information Commissioner Swagat Das, in separate orders against the North Western Railway and the Western Railway, held that the Railways had wrongly invoked the exemption under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act to deny the names and designations of TTEs who were performing official duties. One of the appeals concerned the deployment of a TTE on the Udaipur Express, with the appellant seeking the official's name and designation along with complaints, vigilance records, disciplinary proceedings and other service-related information. The other concerned the Asarva-Jaipur Superfast Express, where the appellant sought the name, employee ID and designation of the TTE on duty. In both cases, the Railways denied the requests, claiming the information was exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) as personal information of a third party. Rejecting the Railways' stand, the commission observed, "The identity of a public servant performing official duties in the course of public employment constitutes information relating to the discharge of public functions and cannot, by itself, be treated as 'personal information' exempt under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act." In the Western Railway case, the commission held that "the name and designation of a public servant discharging official duties cannot be treated as personal information" under the RTI Act. It noted that the name and designation of a TTE are routinely displayed on the official badge worn during duty and on the reservation chart for passengers. "Once such information is voluntarily and mandatorily placed in the public domain by the Public Authority itself, its disclosure under the RTI Act cannot be denied by invoking the exemption of personal information," it said. The commission observed that transparency and accountability of public servants are among the core objectives of the RTI Act and that denying such basic information would defeat the very purpose of the law and encourage opacity in public dealings. The commission directed the respective CPIOs to furnish the names and designations of the concerned TTEs. PTI MHS VN VN