Central Information Commission
A Veeresh Babu vs National Institute Of Technology, ... on 7 July, 2025
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबा गं गनाथ माग,मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई िद ी, New Delhi - 110067
ि तीय अपील सं ा / Second Appeal No. CIC/NITWR/A/2024/646720
A Veeresh Babu ... अपीलकता/Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
CPIO: National Institute of
Technology Warangal, ... ितवादीगण/Respondents
Telangana
Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:
RTI : 29.06.2024 FA : 23.08.2024 SA : 21.10.2024
CPIO : 02.08.2024 FAO : 25.09.2024 Hearing : 30.06.2025
Date of Decision: 04.07.2025
CORAM:
Hon'ble Commissioner
_ANANDI RAMALINGAM
ORDER
1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 29.06.2024 seeking information on the following points:
I am writing to request specific information about Advertisement No. Admin.01/2022, dated 21st February 2022, issued by the National Institute of Technology Warangal.
1. I would like to request the selection committee proceedings for professors in the Mechanical Engineering Department.
2. Could you kindly provide the marks secured by Dr. A. Veeresh Babu (Application number: NITW2203400035) during Stage-1 (Presentation at Page 1 of 6 departmental level on 5th July 2022) and Stage-2 (Interview by the selection committee on 6th July 2022) of the selection process AND all the applicants for professor selections, as per the rubrics followed?
3. I am seeking reasons for the non-disclosure of selections for all positions for Advertisement No. Admin.01/2022 (notified vacancies and zero vacancy selections). If the selections have been published, I would like to ask that the web address be used to access this information.
4. I wish to inquire about the shortlisting criteria followed for the notified posts and zero vacancy posts of Professor in the departments of Chemistry (CY), Electrical Engineering (EE), Mathematics (MA), and Mechanical Engineering (ME) as per the First Statutes (Amendment) Act 2017, dated 21st July 2017.
5. (Additionally, I kindly request details listing all the applicants to the Professor selections, including their serving experience as Associate Professors and the total essential serving experiences at NIT Warangal considered, specific to the departments of CY, EE, MA, and ME, along with their first date of joining (refer (5) note 1). ..., etc./ other related information
2. The CPIO replied vide letter dated 02.08.2024 and the same is reproduced as under :-
Point No. 1 & 3: The Selection Committee report is exempted under Section 8 (1)
(e), 8 (1) (g) and 8 (1) (j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005. However, the list of selected candidates may be accessed from the following link: https://oldweb.nitw.ac.in/media/uploads/Revised_List_of_Selected_Candidat es_with_ID-Website.pdf.
Point No. 2. Marks secured in Stage -1: 34/40 Marks secured in Stage -2: 28/60 Page 2 of 6 The marks secured by other candidates is third party and is exempted under Section 8 (1) (j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Point No. 4. The general instructions and information may be accessed from the following link: https://oldweb.nitw.ac.in/media/uploads/2022/02/23/fr2022_general- instructions-a-i_v10.pdf Point No. 5: The information sought pertain to third party and is exempted under Section 8 (1) (j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005. .....Etc.
3. Dissatisfied with the response received from the CPIO, the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 23.08.2024. alleging that the information provided was incomplete, false and misleading. The FAA vide order dated 25.09.2024 upheld the reply given by the CPIO.
4. Aggrieved with the FAA's order, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal dated 21.10.2024.
5. The appellant and on behalf of the respondent Mr. Soumen Karnakar, CPIO, attended the hearing through video conference.
6. The appellant inter alia submitted that he had sought his marks along with the marks of the selected candidates and reasons for non-disclosure of selection for all positions w.r.t advertisement dated 21.02.2022 against which the CPIO had claimed exemption u/s 8 (1) (e), (g) and (j) of the RTI Act.
7. The respondent while defending their case inter alia submitted that the information sought on points no. 1, 2 and 3 of the RTI application pertained to the third- party, disclosure of which had no relationship to any public activity or interest, hence, exemption under section 8 (1) (e), (g) and (j) of the RTI Act has been claimed. Although, marks of the appellant had been provided. A relevant extract of the respondent written submission dated 23.06.2025 is reproduced below:
Page 3 of 6"2. The CPIO vide letter dt. 26.07.2024 has sent an interim response that the information sought by the applicant is awaited from the concerned Section. Subsequently, vide letter dt.02.08.2024, the applicant was provided with the information barring third party information sought by the applicant such as qualifications, experience, marks, etc., of other candidates.
3. The appellant has filed First Appeal before the FAA inter-alia stating that the experience and qualifications of public servants may be provided as the salary and achievements are in public domain. He further sought clarifications / interpretation of rules from the FAA. The FAA has passed an order dt. 24.09.2024 upholding the information provided by CPIO and clarified that no new information can be sought at the stage of appeal nor can clarifications/ opinions be entertained under the provisions of the Act.
4. Now the appellant has filed the instant appeal requesting to provide the third- party information. It may be pertinent to submit that the appellant himself admits that out of the 14 applicants (Associate Professors) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, all the applicants including himself were appointed as Professors. Further, as admitted by him, all the details of faculty members including their designation, position, salary, etc., are available on the Institute website.
5. All the information excluding the third-party information has already been available with the appellant. Therefore, in view of the factual position mentioned above, the Hon'ble Commission may be pleased to appreciate the fact of provision of requisite information by the Institute to the appellant and dispose of the appeal."
8. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both parties and perusal of records, observed that the CPIO has provided appropriate reply except on point 3 to the RTI Application as per the provisions of the RTI Act vide letter dated 02.08.2024. The Commission notes that the appellant has sought for the Page 4 of 6 personal information of third party, disclosure of which had no relationship to any public activity or interest. Hence, the CPIO correctly denied the information under Section 8(1)
(e), (g) and (j) of the RTI Act. In this regard, the attention of the appellant is drawn towards a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India Vs. Subhash Chandra Agarwal in Civil Appeal No. 10044 of 2010 with Civil Appeal No. 10045 of 2010 and Civil Appeal No. 2683 of 2010 wherein the import of "personal information" envisaged under Section 8(1)(j) of RTI Act has been exemplified in the context of earlier ratios laid down by the same Court in the matter(s) of Canara Bank Vs. C.S. Shyam in Civil Appeal No.22 of 2009; Girish Ramchandra Deshpande vs. Central Information Commissioner & Ors., (2013) 1 SCC 212 and R.K. Jain vs. Union of India & amp; Anr., (2013) 14 SCC
794. The following was thus held:
"59. Reading of the aforesaid judicial precedents, in our opinion, would indicate that personal records, including name, address, physical, mental and psychological status, marks obtained, grades and answer sheets, are all treated as personal information. Similarly, professional records, including qualification, performance, evaluation reports, ACRs, disciplinary proceedings, etc. are all personal information. Medical records, treatment, choice of medicine, list of hospitals and doctors visited, findings recorded, including that of the family members, information relating to assets, liabilities, income tax returns, details of investments, lending and borrowing, etc. are personal information. Such personal information is entitled to protection from unwarranted invasion of privacy and conditional access is available when stipulation of larger public interest is satisfied. This list is indicative and not exhaustive..."
9. The Commission further notes that the appellant is also seeking clarification and reasons for non-disclosure of selections for all positions and selections process etc., against point no. 3, which do not fall within the definition of "information" as defined under section 2 (f) of the RTI Act. In this regard, the attention of the appellant is also drawn towards a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Central Board of Page 5 of 6 Secondary Education &Anr. vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay & Ors [Civil Appeal No.6454 of 2011] date of judgment 09.08.2011. The following was thus held:
"....A public authority is also not required to furnish information which require drawing of inferences and/or making of assumptions. It is also not required to provide 'advice' or 'opinion' to an applicant, nor required to obtain and furnish any 'opinion' or 'advice' to an applicant. The reference to 'opinion' or 'advice' in the definition of 'information' in section 2(f) of the Act, only refers to such material available in the records of the public authority......."
10. Having observed above, the Commission finds no scope of intervention in the matter. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.
Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
(Anandi Ramalingam) (आनंदी रामिलंगम) Information Commissioner (सूचना आयु ) िदनांक/Date: 04.07.2025 Authenticated true copy O. P. Pokhriyal (ओ. पी. पोख रयाल) Dy. Registrar (उप पंजीयक) 011-26180514 Addresses of the parties:
1 The CPIO Deputy Registrar, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, Telangana - 506004 2 A Veeresh Babu Page 6 of 6 Recomendation(s) to PA under section 25(5) of the RTI Act, 2005:-
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