Shri Ram Prakash vs State Bank Of India on 29 July, 2009

                       Central Information Commission
           Appeal No.CIC/PB/A/2008/001130-SM dated 10.04.2008
             Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)


                                                        Dated: 29 July 2009

Name of the Appellant            :   Shri Ram Prakash,
                                     Sijriya Colony, Main Road,
                                     Chirgaon, Distt. Jhansi (U.P)


Name of the Public Authority     :   CPIO, State Bank of India,
                                     Head Office, Bhopal (M.P)

       Neither the Respondent nor the Appellant was present for the

hearing.

2. In this case, the Appellant had, in his application dated April 10,

2008, requested the CPIO for the photocopies of the Caste Certificates of a

number of employees of the bank who were allegedly appointed under the

Scheduled Tribe quota. The CPIO replied on May 6, 2008 and denied the

information by claiming exemption under Section 8(1) (j) of the Right to

Information (RTI) Act. Not satisfied with this, he had sent an appeal to the

first Appellate Authority on May 11, 2008. The Appellate Authority decided

his appeal in his order dated June 6, 2008 by endorsing the rejection of the

request by the CPIO. The Appellant has challenged this order in his second

appeal.

3. The Appellant was not present during the hearing. The Respondent

was present and submitted that disclosing the Caste Certificates of these

officers would amount to disclosing personal information which could cause

unwarranted invasion of their privacy. We cannot agree with this argument.

If any employee is appointed on the basis of specific eligibility conditions, as

CIC/PB/A/2008/001130-SM
in this case, his caste, such information should be available in the public

domain and no longer remain personal information. Therefore, we direct the

CPIO to provide to the Appellant within 10 working days from the receipt of

this order photocopies of the Caste Certificates of all these employees.

4. With the above direction the appeal is disposed off.

5. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.

(Satyananda Mishra)
Information Commissioner

Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied
against application and payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the
CPIO of this Commission.

(Vijay Bhalla)
Assistant Registrar

CIC/PB/A/2008/001130-SM