The details of disciplinary proceedings against an employee cannot be withheld from disclosure on the grounds of being personal information and should be made public under the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission has held.
The decision of the transparency panel came on the plea of an RTI applicant Deshbandhu Marwah who demanded records relating to an inquiry into the alleged misconduct by an officer A.K. Gupta of State Bank of Mysore but was denied the same.
The bank refused to disclose any information about its officer by invoking section 8(1)(h), which bars the disclosure of information which could impede the process of investigation, saying the CBI had been investigating into this matter and the Bank had also filed an application before the Debt Recovery Tribunal for recovery of its dues.
The bank also invoked section 8(1)(j) which allows withholding the personal information from disclosure.
“Disciplinary proceedings are regarding the public conduct or misconduct of an employee of the Public Authority, all the records and files in this regard are public records and have to be disclosed subject of course to other exemptions of the Act,” Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra said.
“The files and records relating to the disciplinary proceedings instituted by the Bank against A.K. Gupta, an officer of the Bank can never fall in the category of personal information,” he said.
