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You are here: News Home » India

CIC: Public can access govt employee’s service

book
Chittaranjan Tembhekar,TNN | Jun 10, 2013, 04.51 AM IST

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READ MORE The Record|The Office|Proof|Service Book|Right To Information

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.
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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.

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