THE LEAFLET: Chennai: Tuesday,
08 September 2020.
The
Madras High Court Monday ruled that the information related to the caste-wise
breakup of candidates selected to government posts is not exempt from
disclosure under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI).
Justice
S Vaidyanathan held that the contention of the Tamil Nadu Public Service
Commission (TNPSC) that the information sought would amount to invasion of
privacy could not be accepted especially when the selection itself is based on
caste wise quota.
“The
disclosure of caste wise breakup will certainly inure to the benefits of
candidates to ascertain as to whether they actually fall under the reservation
quota or not”, said Justice Vaidyanathan.
The
Court also rejected the contention of TNPSC that the disclosure of caste-wise
breakup of candidates would create communal disharmony.
“The
apprehension of TNPSC, that in-depth description of castes will create communal
unrest, is only an illusion and imaginary and if it is the real concern of
TNPSC and the Government, they should think of abolishing the quota system as
well as removal of column regarding caste particular in the school certificate
itself, so that the people of Tamil Nadu could (not) stand united under one
roof irrespective of caste, creed, religion, etc., at least in the year 2050
and our State will be a model State for the whole of the country”, the Court
said.
It also
chastised the TNPSC for invoking section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act to deny the
information.
The
said Section reads as follows-
Section
8(1)- Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no
obligation to give any citizen-
(d)information
including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the
disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party,
unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest
warrants the disclosure of such information;
The
Court found the invocation of this section irrelevant to the information
sought.
It went
on to state: “Now-a-days, the Officials adopt a tactic to answer in a
mechanical manner that the information sought for is exempted in the light of
Section 8(1)(d) of the Act, without actually ascertaining as to whether the
information sought falls within the ambit of the said provision”.
Such
Officers, the Court said, must be taught a lesson and in the view of the Court,
they are unfit to hold the post of Public Information Officer or any other post
in connection with the discharge of duties under the RTI Act.
“They
should be shown the doors, so that it will be a lesson for other Officers to
act in accordance with the terms of the Act, failing which they may also face
the similar or more consequences”, the Court said.
It,
thus, directed the State Government to issue a circular to all departments,
Public Sector Undertakings, Corporations, etc., so that the authorities, more
particularly under RTI, will come to know of the legal consequences of
non-furnishing of details, which the affected parties/general public seek for.
The Court
also directed TNPSC to appraise the Court of the names and position of the
officials who had rejected the RTI request and who had, thereby, “failed to
discharge their official duties as adumbrated under the RTI Act, 2005.”
The
Court was ruling on an appeal filed by TNPSC in 2010 challenging the decision
of the Tamil Nadu Information Commission inter-alia directing the disclosure of
information relating to selected candidates from the sub-castes of Muthuraja
and Muthriyar, sub-castes Ambalakarar, and a list of selected candidates from
Vanniya Kula Shatriar sub-castes for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.
.JPG)
.JPG)
