Central Information Commission
Dr. Anand Prasad Jaiswal vs Indian Institute Of Technology €“ ... on 15 December, 2009
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Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2009/002690/5901
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2009/002690
Relevant Facts emerging from the Appeal:
Appellant : Dr. Anand Prasad Jaiswal
House No. B-2532, Sector -II,
H.E.C. Dhruwas, Randhi - 834004.
Respondent : Lt. Col. A. K. Srivastava
Public Information Officer & Registrar Indian Institute of Technology - Roorkee, Roorkee - 247667, Uttarakhand.
RTI application filed on : 12-05-2009 PIO replied : 29-05-2009 First appeal filed on : 10-06-2009 First Appellate Authority order : 15-07-2009 Second Appeal received on : 21-10-2009 Date of Notice of Hearing : 15-11-2009 Hearing Held on : 15-12-2009 Information Sought:
The Appellant had sought following information from PIO - IIT - Roorkee regarding no. of student categorywise applied, appeared and qualified for GATE 2009 in Physics discipline, marks obtained for 2009 of qualified candidates, result of a qualified candidates who scored 41.67 out of 100 in the said subject.
a). No. of student category wise applied, appeared and qualified for GATE 2009 in the Physics discipline.
S. No. Physics Discipline No. of Student in different category Gen. OBC(NCL*) SC ST PH
1. Applied
2. Appeared
3. Qualified.
*Other Backward class (Non-Creamy Layer).
b). category wise range of GATE Percentile score with corresponding marks obtained for GATE 2009 of qualified candidate in the Physics discipline.
S. No. Category Ranges of Marks Obtained and Corresponding Percentiles Marks Obtained Corresponding Percentile
1. Gen.
2. OBC(NCL*) Page no 1 of 3
3. ST
4. PH *Other Backward class (Non-Creamy Layer).
c). Categorywise GATE 2009 result of a qualified candidate who scored 41.67 out of 100 marks in the Physics discipline.
S. No. RESULTS GATE 2009 Results among different category
Gen. OBC(NCL*) SC ST PH
1. Marks Obtained 41.67 41.67 41.67 41.67 41.67
2. GATE Percentile Score
3. GATE Score
4. All India Rank
*Other Backward class (Non-Creamy Layer).
d). Registration nos. of qualified candidates in the Physics discipline.
The PIO's reply.
Query No. Response
a). The desired information is given below:
S.No. Physics No. of Student in different Category.
Discipline Gen. OBC(NCL*) SC ST PH
1. Applied 3828 1634 618 73 50
2. Appeared 3409 1524 541 59 42
3. 673 330 128 14 12
*Other Backward class (Non-Creamy Layer).
**Qualified in respective category.
b). The information sought is not clear. c). This information can not be shared since it is third party information under section 11 of RTI Act. d). This information can not be shared since it is third party information under section 11 of RTI Act. Ground of the First Appeal:
Information South is not clear and clear and © & (d) denied by under Section (11) by the Deemed PIO and under Section 8(1) (j) of the Act by the PIO - req-reg.
Order of the FAA:
"The information sought by you is not clear to the Chairman GATE 2009. However, assuming that the range of GATE percentile score with corresponding marks, denotes the difference between the marks obtained by the last qualified candidate and the maximum marks obtained by a candidate in Physics (PH) discipline, the desire information furnished by him had provided to the appellant. And the information sought by you pertains to the registration nos, of all the qualified candidates in a particular subject and does not pertain to you. The FAA had accordingly ruled that the information sought is a third party information under Section 11 of the RTI Act, 2005".
Ground of the Second Appeal:
Incomplete information had been provided by the PIO and dissatisfactory order passed by FAA. .
Page no 2 of 3 Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:
Appellant: Dr. Anand Prasad Jaiswal;
Respondent: Lt. Col. A. K. Srivastava, Public Information Officer & Registrar;
The PIO has refused to give the information about the registration number of qualified candidates in the Physics discipline on the ground that this information is exempt under Section 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act.
Under Section 8 (1) (j) information which has been exempted is defined as:
"information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information:"
To qualify for this exemption the information must satisfy the following criteria:
1. It must be personal information.
Words in a law should normally be given the meanings given in common language. In common language we would ascribe the adjective 'personal' to an attribute which applies to an individual and not to an Institution or a Corporate. From this it flows that 'personal' cannot be related to Institutions, organisations or corporates. Hence Section 8 (1) (j) cannot be applied when the information concerns institutions, organisations or corporates. The phrase 'disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest' means that the information must have been given in the course of a Public activity. Various Public authorities in performing their functions routinely ask for 'personal' information from Citizens, and this is clearly a public activity. When a person applies for a job, or gives information about himself to a Public authority as an employee, or asks for a permission, licence or authorisation, all these are public activities. Also when a Citizen provides information in discharge of a statutory obligation this too is a public activity.
Marks or Registration numbers of individual candidates cannot be construed as information which would be an invasion on the privacy of an individual. Hence the PIO's denial of information is not upheld.
Decision:
The Appeal is allowed.
The PIO will provide the information as sought at query-d to the Appellant before 10 January 2010.
This decision is announced in open chamber.
Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties. Any information in compliance with this Order will be provided free of cost as per Section 7(6) of RTI Act.
Shailesh Gandhi Information Commissioner 15 December 2009 (In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.) (BK) Page no 3 of 3