New Delhi: The CIC on Thursday warned the premier
management institute IIM-Ahmedabad of action under the RTI Act
against its officials if any information is withheld from
applicants without giving suitable reasons.
"The commission warned the Public Information Officer
(PIO) that unless grounds for denial were based on Section
8(1) and proper reasons were given, no information should be
withheld. Else it would invite penal provisions of Section 20
of the RTI Act," Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi
mentioned in his order.
The Section 8(1) of the RTI lists various exemption
clauses under which information can be withheld while Section
20 relates to the provisions of penalty if PIO is found guilty
of not giving information to any RTI applicant.
Gandhi was hearing the plea of an IIM-A professor, TT
Ram Mohan, who had sought the list of faculty members who
availed "sabbatical leave" or "leave without pay" during last
10 years.
The PIO gave him some information but withheld the names
of the faculty members who availed the leave, claiming the
"third party" clause of the Act under which clearance from the
person, whose "private" information is sought, is required
before disclosure.
The names of the faculty members, who had availed
sabbatical leave, were provided on the orders of the first
appellate authority but names of two members were not
disclosed as they objected to it.
The information received after this order showed that
the PIO had given inaccurate information in his initial reply
by not mentioning two faculty members, who had availed
sabbatical leave under the "leave without pay" category. The
PIO later claimed it was a clerical error.
Ram Mohan challenged the decision in the CIC claiming
that the intention of the PIO was "malafide" in withholding
the names of the two faculty members.
"He (PIO) has not revealed the two names on the grounds
that the third parties had objected to it. This cannot be
a ground for refusal and names of the people who take
sabbatical leave cannot be treated as information that would
cause unwarranted invasion on the privacy of the individual,"
Gandhi said.
The Information Commission ordered the IIM to provide
letters of leave applications and the sanction orders for the
last 10 years and also rejected the plea of clerical error
warning the PIO to ensure that information supplied under the
RTI Act is accurate.
Professor Mohan was denied the sabbatical leave when he
sought it for writing the biography of Ravi Mathai, one of the
initial directors of IIM-A, on the grounds that it was
provided only in rare cases.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 20:01