Appointments of senior officials not under RTI: Court

NEW DELHI - The Delhi High Court Friday said that information pertaining to appointment of top bureaucrats cannot be revealed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Justice S. Muralidhar passed this order while dismissing the plea of RTI activist and Magsaysay Award winner Arvind Kejriwal, seeking disclosure of the information on the ground that people had the right to know as to what was the grade assigned to an officer who was empanelled.

The court also set aside the order of the Central Information Commission which had held that information relating to appointment of secretaries in different ministries falls within the ambit of the transparency law.

“This court holds that the CIC was not justified in overruling the objection of the centre and directing the government and the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training) to provide copies of the documents as sought by Kejriwal,” the judge said.

Setting aside the contention of the central government that the disclosure would amount to revealing details of an officer, the CIC had directed the department and the cabinet secretariat to disclose details pertaining to selection of officers for the posts of secretaries and additional secretaries.