Times
of India: New Delhi: Thursday, 26 November 2015.
The Central
Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that information related to mediation
proceedings in domestic disputes should not be made public. Observing that the
mediation process cannot be used by parties as pre-litigation step to collect
material, the commission said that such information can be used by a
"cantankerous spouse'' to harass the other.
The decision
was taken on an appeal filed by Shahdara resident J D Singh who sought
information related to reconciliation procedures from the Delhi Disputes
Resolution Society. "If RTI is allowed to be exercised in securing
information about mediation, a cantankerous spouse will exploit mediation as a
source to get information with which they can harass the other and use it in
courts of law also,'' information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said.
"Thus
the public interest in disclosure of the information, if any, is not higher
than that in protection of mediation proceedings as per Section 8(2).
Comparatively there is a higher public interest in protecting the
confidentiality and privacy of the proceedings of mediation and there is no
public interest in disclosure,'' Acharyulu added.