GreaterKashmir.com:
Jammu: Wednesday, May 15, 2013.
In an
important decision, the State Information Commission has ruled that Service
Book of a government employee is a public document and every citizen has a
right to get access to it.
“Service
details of public servants available in the service book cannot be treated as
personal information”, S K Sharma, State Information Commissioner, in a
decision held here today.
The decision
came in an appeal filed by a resident, Sajad Ahmed Najjar, who was denied copy
of service book of ADC Kishtwar sought by him under Right to Information Act.
The Commission
directed Deputy Commissioner concerned to furnish the copy the Service Book of
the officer to the applicant within two weeks.
As per the
appellant, he had filed an application under RTI seeking copy of the service
record of ADC Kishtwar RK Shavan but the application was rejected on the ground
that the information “was personal in nature and cannot be provided”.
“The fact of
the matter is that Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, was himself the
PIO in this case. It would have been better if he would have refrained from
acting as a PIO as the information sought by the information seeker pertained
to the individual who disposed of the application”, the Commission observed,
adding, “Such a lapse erodes the concept of natural justice which envisages fair
play and purity in the administration of justice”.
“One of the
essential canons of natural justice is that one cannot be a judge in his own
case. The PIO is warned that he should remain careful in future and strictly
adhere to principles of natural justice while disposing of applications seeking
information pertaining to one's own self”, SIC held further.
.JPG)
.JPG)
