THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Information Commission (SIC) has issued a show cause notice to the state Public Service Commission (PSC) for turning down a Right to Information (RTI) query on the grounds that the information sought was ‘personal’ in nature. The commission also sought an explanation from the PSC secretary on the matter.
The RTI applicant had sought to know the qualification of the evaluators of the exam conducted by PSC for recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor.
The Information Officer at the PSC headquarters told the applicant that the information could not be provided as it involved ‘personal details’.
The applicant submitted an appeal to the PSC joint secretary but the information was not provided, prompting her to approach the SIC.
In the commission’s order, State Information Commissioner A Abdul Hakeem said the information could not be denied as it did not fall under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act.
The SIC directed that the PSC secretary’s explanation and the reply to the show cause notice should be submitted before March 30. It also directed PSC to provide the information sought by the applicant before April 4 free of cost.