Disclosures of Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) comes under Official Secret Act

[nk agarwal]

Mr. Ravi,
I am no a legal expert on the subject, I am only sharing my perceptions and the views/decisions of various courts (which have come to my knowledge) regarding disclosure of ACR.
<O:pVarious services i.e. central and state inclusive of uniformed services (Defence & Police) either have their own rules & regulations regarding ACR or follow the ones issued by DOPT. This includes matters of ACRs, procedure of DPC etc. In some cases UPSC is involved or associated with the recruitment and/or DPC. While seeking info under RTI ACt-2005 one has to understand (1) what comprises information? (2) How to ask for the required info.<O:p
To deny info to applicants PIOs, Appellate authorities sometimes take shelter under section 8 of the act to deny and or delay supply of "uncomfortable” information. It is here one has to know the meaning of confidentiality clause etc. so that at the appeal stage one may defend his or her application under RTI ACt-2005 so that the sought info can be obtained. Remember the office of PIO defends the denial by utilising services of legal experts at public costs and the applicant cannot have matching resources.
<O:pLike any rule and law exemption clause cannot be used with a blind eye, its applicability may vary on case to case basis and this would hold true for disclosure of ACRs of self or others. <O:p

[Dr.R.K.D.Goel]

Why a State / Central Goverment officers / officilas should worry that his ACR should not be published? Honest PUBLIC OFFICeR SHOULD NOT Be AFFRAID IF HIS CR IS MADe PUBLIC.

[Ravi Maheshwari]

Karira Sir & Agarwal Sir, Thanks a lot. There have been number of arguments before judiciary on matters related to ACR. Now finally, SC has laid down a rule that an employee has a right to see his ACR, except employees of military, primarily to prevent breach of Art 14. A landmark judgment; I hope no further appeal is preferred by UOI against this judgment. To some extent, it amends OSA in so far as confidentiality of an ACR is concerned. It, however, does not make it public under RTI; and thus, the executive orders disallowing access to ACR still prevails. I agree with Dr. Goel. ACR should be disclosed under RTI. Let it remains open for discussions.

[nk agarwal]

I think RTI Act-2005 makes it very clear what info should be made available or placed in public domain by respective departments and offices that utilise or are funded by public money.
What we are debating here is whether under RTI Act-2005 an applicant can obtain ACR of self or others.
What constitutes an ACR is very well defined and what constitutes an information is very well defined in RTI ACt-2005 and there should not be any confusion on this.
Outside RTI Act-2005 an ACR of a person could be left under lid ( but not now after the recent Hon'ble Apex Court decison), but asking the same under RTI Act-2005 is a different matter.
An RTI Act-2005 user has to understand this fine and important distinction and at the same time should understand the "process" of information.

[Ravi Maheshwari]

Agarwal Sir, ACR is liable for rejection under Section 8 (e) or (j), as it appears to me. ACR has five parts (i) Personal Data, (ii) Self-appraisal (iii) Assessment by Reporting Officer, (iv) Reviewing Officer’s remarks; and (v) Accepting Authority’s remarks. In the personal data, name, designation, leave, etc. are given. An officer gives details of works done by him in Self-appraisal. Reporting Officer assesses the performance and makes entries accordingly. The Reviewing and Accepting Authorities have little role to play. Sir, all events are related to official activities of an officer and assessment by superiors. Preamble to the Act envisages to promote the transparency.

[nk agarwal]

Most information pertains to official activity and contain some or the other personal info within it. With the same analogy no info could be provided by invoking provisions of section 8.
Here the question is not what are the contents of ACR or how many officers have handled it or added coments/entries etc. it is the classification of it as "confidential" so " not disclosable" like any other confidential document.
I think, what is more important than debating on confidentiality clause, post Apex court decision, whether Govt. of India has circulated any orders for the implementation of it.
I have seen some instances where post Apex court orders Govt. of India has issued circulars for its implementation.

[nk agarwal]

Disclosure of any info by a public authority can open a can of worms by exposing corrupt practices.
Should a public authority deny such info by invoking provisions of section 8 because the info has a potential for being used against "some public authority in service or not.
The dimensions of RTI Act-2005 are evolving for the purpose it has been created - democratisation in our governance.
Satipratha, What once was a practice with public sanction had to be abondoned with evolution of better social order likewise many bad governance practices would be stopped by implementing RTI Act-2205.

[Ravi Maheshwari]

Agarwal Sir, I disagree with you for the reasons that mere classification of a document as ‘confidential’ does not mean it is exempted from disclosure. Hitherto, no access was given to employees, but following apex court’s decision, it will be open to them. Let us hope to see disclosure of ACRs under RTI also. To the best of my knowledge, the Govt. has not yet issued any Circular. Upon SC judgment, the Administrative Ministry might be formulating the guidelines on disclosure of ACRs to employees; and I think the Law Ministry will also be consulted before issuing any circular.

[nk agarwal]

Disagreement is the cause of variation in decisions of CIC, SIC and various courts on the matter pertaining to disclosure of confidentail documents inclusive of ACRs and DPC procedings etc.
Since, as individuals we do not sit over judgments, our agrement or disagrement is of no consequence.
My perception is RTI ACt-2005 overrides Official Secret Act and the exemption provisions under section 8 protects disclosure of info under specific conditions only irrespective of the info bbeing confidential or open.
ACR being classified as confidential (covered under the OSA) cannot be prorected from disclosure under RTI Act-2005.
If one ask the disclosure of ACR outside RTI Act, may be the custodian would invoke OSA and refuse disclosure.
RTI Act-2005 has not made the OSA redundant, my perception is that Under RTI Act-2005 the OSA becomes very limited and section 8 becomes prominent.
Perhaps, the variations in pleadings before the Hon'ble courts as well before the CIC and SIC result in diverse judgments and decisions.
It is time the necessary circulars for admn actions are brought out by the nodal agency so that unnecessary litigation on the subject is avoided.

[Dr. M. Faiyazuddin]

When everything is transparent, why not ACR?