Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Thursday,
August 11, 2016.
After two
years of dragging its feet, the High Court has finally shared parts of
information on two inquiries, which it had maintained was not shareable.
Senior
activist Basavaraj S Munoli, who had pursued the issue for two years, finally
convinced the information commission, which overruled the high court PIO's
(public information officer's) decision not to share information, on July 15.
Bangalore Mirror had reported the issue on July 22, (Information commission,
high court at loggerheads) showing how two legal entities were locked in
conflict over sharing information under the RTI Act.
The high
court PIO had said that the disclosure of the RTI request had no relationship
to any public activity or public interest; and it may cause unwarranted
invasion of the privacy of the individuals concerned. The commission ruled that
the inquiry was not personal information of the officer, and it directly
related to public activity.
Referring to
instances in past, the commission had ruled that appellant/ applicant had to be
furnished information in the interest of the justice and equity. Initially, the
PIO of the High Court had appealed for the said RTI request to be rejected.
However, the
information commission directed it to provide the information within 30 days.
The commission passed its orders after taking legal opinion. In response, the
high court PIO, on August 1, furnished the required information. Munoli had
sought this information because he had acted as legal assistant in two
different cases pertaining to a second division assistant and first division
assistant, where in disciplinary inquiries had been initiated against them, and
that the court staffers had been finally exonerated. The high court PIO has provided
inquiry report, office notes and proceedings in both instances on August 1.
IT'S A
PRECEDENT This instance, the appellant said, was welcome and would help in days
ahead. "This sets a precedent as the same will be followed in cases ahead.
The information,
if provided on time under RTI Act, will come handy in other cases that may help
delinquent government official. However, I had sought costs for the delay;
these have not been awarded by the state information commission.
The case
lasted two years and I had to go through a lot of hardship to present my side
of case," Munoli told Bangalore Mirror.
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