Disclosure of “Personal Information” of an Employee of a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital under the RTI Act, 2005 and the Decision of CIC: An Interesting Case Report

Introduction

Mr. XY, the applicant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 [1] for the first time on 29.12.2022 seeking the information with regard to the copies of pay slip, service book and personal records of his spouse, Ms. XX, working as a Nursing Officer at AIIMS, New Delhi. Ms. XX had joined AIIMS, New Delhi as a Nursing Officer in the year 2022 13.12.2022 and her Service book was yet to be completed. This was informed to the applicant through reply of the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) (Hospital), and for the pay slip of Ms. XX, the RTI was transferred to the CPIO, Cash Section under section 6(3) of the RTI, Act. A second RTI dated 14.02.2023 was filed by Mr. XY asking for the similar information again, to which, the first two pages (Biodata Page) of the service book of Ms. XX were enclosed in its reply provided by the CPIO (Hospital) and rest of the information related to her certificates; educational qualifications and personal information submitted by her at the time of joining were “denied” citing the relevant exemptions under sections 8(1)(e) and 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005.

Section 8 of the RTI Act spells out the exemptions from disclosure of information, as under (1);

8(1)(e) is related to information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information, and 8(1)(j) is related to 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:

The applicant, replied to the response provided by the CPIO (Hospital), by attaching their marriage photographs, invitation card, voter id card etc and then started filing a series of RTIs through which he sought the personal information of Ms. XX including her service Book, personal records and documents submitted by her at the time of joining at AIIMS, New Delhi which included the Attestation form, Police Verification, Marital records, Attendance Records etc. Along with the applicant, his family and friends also filed a couple of RTIs seeking information related to the personal information of Ms. XX. Additionally, Mr. XY filed a couple of grievances on similar matters of personal information, educational qualifications, and documents of marriage etc of Ms. XX. In fact, Mr. XY through his set of grievances and letters tried to seek the similar information which had already been provided to him as responses to his RTI applications.

Further to a reply of the CPIO (H) dated 06.11.2023 on the RTI seeking personal information of Ms. XX which was upheld by the First Appellate Authority vide his reply dated 30.11.2023 as per which, the applicant filed his second appeal on 03.12.2023 in the Court of Central Information Commissioner (CIC), New Delhi. The matter was listed for hearing on 28.11.2024. The hearing was attended in person by the CPIO (Hospital) and the First Appellate Authority (Hospital) who made a brief submission to the Hon’ble CIC, about the series of RTIs filed by the applicant, Mr. XY and his relatives seeking personal information of Ms. XX and the replies given by the CPIO (Hospital) and First Appellate Authority (Hospital). Upon hearing their submissions, the CIC while citing the provisions of the landmark Judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court which explained the aspect of “personal information” in a highly structured manner [2] disposed off the appeal in favour of AIIMS, New Delhi.

Discussion:

“Personal information” was explained in this regard through a matter of Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India Vs. Subhash Chandra Agarwal in Civil Appeal No. 10044 of 2010 with Civil Appeal No. 10045 of 2010 and Civil Appeal No. 2683 of 2010. The relevant portion of the said judgment is extracted as under [3]:

“...59. Reading of the aforesaid judicial precedents, in our opinion, would indicate that personal records, including name, address, physical, mental and psychological status, marks obtained, grades and answer sheets, are all treated as personal information. Similarly, professional records, including qualification, performance, evaluation reports, ACRs, disciplinary proceedings, etc. are all personal information. Medical records, treatment, choice of medicine, list of hospitals and doctors visited, findings recorded, including that of the family members, information relating to assets, liabilities, income tax returns, details of investments, lending and borrowing, etc. are personal information. Such personal information is entitled to protection from unwarranted invasion of privacy and conditional access is available when stipulation of larger public interest is satisfied. This list is indicative and not exhaustive...”

[Emphasis Supplied] Adverting to the supra, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the aforementioned case has categorized a variety of aspects that comes under the purview of “personal information” which are exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. Commission taking into account the facts of the referred case deny the request of Appellant for disclosure of the information.

Conclusion:

The instant RTI brings forth the key aspect of disclosure of “personal information” of an employee of a tertiary care teaching hospital wherein the CPIO (Hospital) furnished through his reply that such information is exempted under sections 8(1)(e) and 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 which was upheld by the Hon’ble CIC while citing a judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in this regard.

References

1. The Right to Information Act, [Internet]. 2005 [cited 2025 Jun 17]. Available from: https://rti.gov.in/rti-act.pdf
2. Neeraj Kumar Soni vs Department Of Posts, [Internet]. 2023 Mar 2 [cited 2025 Jun 17]. Available from: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/120802074/?type=print
3. Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India Vs. Subhash Chandra Agarwal, [Internet]. 2019 Nov 13 [cited 2025 Jun 17]. Available from: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/101637927/