Now, nail ***** for foreign tours

[karira]

This would be a shocker for lakhs of public servants and bureaucrats across the country: Been on a foreign tour to study roads or educational practices? You owe an explanation to the public.

Any citizen can now seek personal information — quantum of leave availed, country tours or foreign tours — of any public servant under the Right to Information Act. Taking a cue from the United Kingdom (UK) Data Information Act (1998), the Central Information Commission (CIC) has given a whole new definition to personal information of public servants in the country.

In a historic case involving an officer of the Central Forensic Science Laboratories (CFSL) attached to the CBI, the CIC ruled any activity of a public servant in his official capacity, which is of direct concern to public and, therefore, to public interest, should be revealed to the public. The CIC ruling comes after a CFSL employee, Surender Kumar, sought to know the details of leaves (earned leave, casual leave, half-pay commuted leave and medical leave), tours, journey (including foreign tour) and official tours undertaken by his officer Rajinder Singh for 10 years. But Kumar’s petition was rejected, citing exemptions under Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act and stating that disclosure of this information was invasion of privacy of Singh. Kumar then petitioned the CIC.

In his ruling, CIC Wajahat Habibullah said: “The information sought by Kumar is of direct concern to public and, therefore, to public interest since it concerns the working of a public servant in his official capacity. Details of personal tours invites exemption and may be provided only to the extent of dates and destination, unless public money is involved. As the information sought is not categorised as confidential nor is a leave register a confidential document, the information sought be supplied.’’

Said a retired bureaucrat: “This is more fearful than our confidential reports.’’


Welcome

[karira]

The full decision of the CIC, referred to in the above post, is attached.

[ganpat1956]

This is a very good decision by the CIC. Based on this we are likely to see increased RTI activity from those who want to settle scores.

[sagginyou]

This is a very well thought of decision of the CIC...
I think the Govt of India should think of extensive computerisation of the existing record so that any RTI query can be answered instantly....
All sorts of informaation like officer's personal details, leave taken, slary taken, phone calls made, no of times an officer went to toilet, bathroom, no of times an officer coughed....
everything should be online.....so that guinees recordholder RTI activists can put medals on their belly about uncountable questions asked by thrm..
thi way surely i think whole govt will become defunct,,,

[karira]

sagginyou,

From your post, it seems you have NEVER read the RTI Act 2005 even once.

You say: I think the Govt of India should think of extensive computerisation of the existing record so that any RTI query can be answered instantly....

Sec 4 (1) makes it mandatory for every Public Authority (the word used in the Act is "shall"):

1.Every public authority shall— a.maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated;

==================
You say: All sorts of informaation like officer's personal details, leave taken, slary taken, phone calls made, no of times an officer went to toilet, bathroom, no of times an officer coughed....

Such kind of personal details cannot be disclosed under the RTI Act.
Phone call details may be disclosed (although I am not aware of any case) when the phone calls are made from the phone belonging to the Public Authority . After all it is the taxpayers money paying for those calls.

=======================

You say: everything should be online.....so that guinees recordholder RTI activists can put medals on their belly about uncountable questions asked by thrm.

Which RTI Activist has been included in the Guinness Book of World Records ? Please let me know. Or even the Limca book of Records.
Medals are to be pinned to the chest, not on one's belly.
If the information sought under the RTI Act is "unaccountable" , let the PIO deny it under Sec 8 or Sec 9 of the RTI Act. Then the applicant will come on this forum and I am sure that someone here will guide the applicant as to how to rebut each and every denial of the PIO (He He He He He ).

You say: thi way surely i think whole govt will become defunct,,,

Have you read your history and civics ?
No Government ever (from the days of the origins of Democracy in Greece) can become defunct. It can only be replaced by another Government.

BUT, I can assure you that Governments will come and go (in your words become defunct) but RTI Act 2005 will remain.

[maneesh]

This is indeed a welcomed step and act as check on the misuse of travel and also help the genuine Govt. Servants who will avail the travel facility.

A lot of Govt. money is spent on wasteful expenditure and genuine and basic facilities are ignored.

[The Great]

Thank you Karira ji for this information . One can ask the absence of such officer who take leave for 5 to 6 years,continuously and thereby block the post for others to join.
I think we are like minded people gathered here.
Yours Sincerely,