Attendance related information is one of the most frequently sought category of information under the RTI Act. Often, the RTI Applicant is the employee itself, wishing to verify his attendance records for any error or discrepancy. At times, it is also a person finding the whereabouts of its spouse. Whatever be the reason, a question arises whether attendance details of an employee are disclosable under the RTI Act, 2005.
A government employee is a public functionary, whose salary is paid by the exchequer, therefore, his attendance records should be a public domain data and hence, eligible for disclosure under the RTI Act. However, the judicial interpretation does not ascribe to the aforesaid view.
It largely becomes a matter of who has sought the attendance records, whether the employee itself or some third party. If an employee is seeking his own attendance records, the information has been held to be disclosable and the CPIO is bound to disclose it, however, if a third party is seeking it, the information is held to be personal and covered under Section 8(1) (j)[1] and thus, non-disclosable.
Attendance record-third party personal information:
In the recent division bench judgment of the Delhi High Court[2], Dr. RS Gupta (the RTI Applicant) had sought the attendance record of his own and of the other staff members of the Geeta Senior Secondary School No.2, Sultanpuri, Delhi. The Delhi High Court was of the view that “Since the information requested relates to attendance record, it would entail revealing medical and personal information of an individual”.
Attendance record- Part of service record:
In the Girish Ramchandra Deshpande Case[3], the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that the performance of an employee/officer in an organisation is primarily a matter between the employee and the employer and normally those aspects are governed by the service rules which fall under the expression “personal information”. In the Dr. RS Gupta Judgment, the Delhi High Court held the attendance record to be a part of the service record, a matter between the employee and the employer and ordinarily governed by the service rules which fall under the expression “personal information”.
Attendance record-Disclosable if larger public interest justified:
Since, the attendance record of a third party is a personal information, therefore as per Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act, it becomes disclosable only if there is a larger public interest in giving of the attendance details. Therefore, in the Dr. RS Gupta case, the Court was of the view that, the disclosure of an attendance record, ex-facie has no relationship to any public activity or public interest and as the RTI Applicant failed to establish that the information sought for is for any public interest, his appeal cannot be entertained.
Conclusion:
Thus, the attendance record is part of the service record of an organization and is “personal information” disc losable only to the employee himself and not to the third parties. An RTI Applicant wishing to obtain third party attendance records, to obtain the same, will have to justify that he is seeking the attendance record in public interest.
[1] Section 8(1) (j): “information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information”
[2] DR. R. S. Gupta vs. Govt. of NCTD & Ors, LPA 207/2020 dated 31.08.2020
[3] Girish Ramchandra Deshpande vs. Central Information Commissioner & Ors.,(2013) 1 SCC 212
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