NEW DELHI, Feb 19:
The marks obtained by Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, former Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram and four other senior 1978-batch IAS officers in the UPSC examination cannot be disclosed as the information is more than 20-years-old, the CIC has held.
An RTI applicant had sought to know the marks obtained by the Home Secretary and former Union Finance Secretary and Rajasthan government officials, including Chief Secretary CS Rajan, Additional Secretary Umrao Salodiya and former Additional Secretaries Vijay Shanker Singh and Ram Lubhaya.
Applicant OP Mehta had sought copies of the marks obtained by the last candidate, in order of merit, belonging to ‘General’ category, recommended by the UPSC for appointment to the IAS/IFS on the basis of the result of the examination held in 1977.
“The appellant (Mehta) submitted that the respondent has denied information to him on the grounds that the information sought is more than 36-years-old and search/culling out such information would disproportionately divert the scarce resources of the public authority,” Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava noted in his order.
Mehta had contended that the justification by the UPSC was not justified.
The Commission said that since the information sought is more than 20-years-old, it is exempted from disclosure under Section 8(3) of RTI Act.
The section cited to withhold information is normally applied for three categories — security of the state, breach of privilege of Parliament or state legislatures and Cabinet papers, including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers. (PTI)
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