The Central Information Commission on Thursday held that the relative assessment with peers which becomes the basis of promotion for a government employee should be disclosed under the RTI Act.
“The relative assessment being the key to the decision of the departmental promotion committee in an activity in which the comparative merits of different candidates for promotion are made with full gravity and reflection, it will surely will be the right of every candidate to know as to how he stands assessed at the time of his consideration,” on Thursday stated the chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah. He added, “this will enable us to represent on the basis of fact and not conjecture.” Mr Habibullah on Thursday also pointed out that such an assessment cannot be held as exempt from disclosure under the transparency law. The decision was taken after the panel considered a number of Supreme Court decisions while deciding on the plea of RTI applicant Babban Singh, a Jharkahand police officer who was denied promotion to elite Indian Police Service (IPS).
Mr Singh filed RTI applications with UPSC seeking a copy of the proceedings of selection committee meeting regarding promotion in IPS.