Property statements filed by civil servants are not confidential information and can be disclosed after taking the views of concerned officials as per the provisions of the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission has held. Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah rejected the plea of Department of Personnel and Training that these records were held “in confidence” by the government and are hence exempted from disclosure.
“It is clear that the property statements are statements regarding private individuals serving in government and (they) become part of Government records,” he said.
Habibullah said by no means these records can be treated as information held “in confidence” by the government.
He said these records come in the category of “personal information” the disclosure of which could amount to invasion of privacy and would attract section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.
The property Statements are the Government Document and not the personal information. The Property details has to be disclosed under statute (Conduct Rules of the Employees) and are not the voluntary disclosures (as in case of Lawyer-Client or Doctor-Patient case) and become a public document.
CIC is wrong in terming that the view of the employee concerned should be taken before disclosing the information.
In fact the disclosure of property details will be a deterrent to corruption.
Otherwise also, detail of property have been made public by the estate authorities and any body can access the same online. Then why deny it?
This is a great decision long awaited by the concerned citizens of India.