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CIC: Public can access govt employee’s service book -Chittaranjan Tembhekar
-The Times of India


MUMBAI: You can now request for a copy of a government employee's service book under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to examine his or her track record in discharging duties in the public service. In a first, Central Information Commissioner Annapurna Dixit last month directed the railways to supply a copy of the service book of a ticket examiner (TE) to RTI activist Chetan Kothari, saying it was information that needed to be placed in the public domain.

Kothari had filed an RTI application in March with the central public information officer at the office of the divisional railway manager, Western Railway, seeking information on the action taken against TE Allan D'Costa on a complaint made by his friend earlier. Kothari also sought D'Costa's service book and confidential report.

Kothari had approached the CIC after his appeal was rejected a second time. Kothari told the CIC that since D'Costa was a public servant, the information officer's refusal to make available his service book and confidential report was against the provisions of the RTI Act. He said provisions in section 8 (1) (J), quoted by railway officials for not providing the service book, were not applicable in the case as the TE was in the public service.

The CIC held that a public authority was obligated under section 4(1) (b) of the RTI Act to disclose information related to the service of its employees and directed the railways to make available the TE's service book to Kothari.

During the hearing, D'Costa objected to sharing his service book, saying the disclosure of service details would endanger the safety of him as well as his family members. The CIC said she was not convinced by D'Costa's argument as this information was anyway expected to be placed in the public domain. "The information should reach the appellant within four weeks of receipt of this order," Dixit ordered. But Dixit said the railways need not disclose the TE's confidential report and personal information as section 8 (1) (J) of the RTI Act exempted such information from being made public.

Kothari had sought the service book of the TE in a case where the latter, while on duty at the Bombay Central station, had asked Kothari's friend Avinash Mody to pay a fine of Rs 5,320 for not carrying the proof of identity along with his ticket after he had alighted from the Shatabdi Express. Mody had filed a complaint with the railways, demanding action against the TE and seeking clarification on whether TEs at stations can ask for proof of identity after those in the train itself have already checked and cleared it. He also wanted the railways to return the fine he had paid.

According to Mody, he could not furnish the proof of identity to the D'Costa as he and a friend were travelling together, and the friend, whose name was first on the ticket and carried the proof of identity, had alighted from the train at Borivali station. Modi said it was not possible for him to call the friend to Bombay Central to show the proof of identity again to the D'Costa, as the friend had a flight to catch at the airport. Mody pointed out that the TE in the train had already checked and cleared the proof of identity provided by his friend.

Meanwhile, state information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad told TOI that a Supreme Court judgment in a similar case had suggested that the record in a service book was a matter between the employee and the employer and was not a matter of public interest.