Disclosure of Annual Confidential Reports under the RTI Act?
The DOPT has clarified that there is no obligation to disclose ACRs of any employee to the employee himself or to any other person in as much as disclosure of ACRs is protected by clause (j) of sub-section (1) of section 8 of the RTI Act; and an ACR is a confidential document, disclosure of which is protected by the Official Secrets Act, 1923. However, the public authority has discretion to disclose the Annual Confidential Reports of an employee to the employee himself or to any other person, if the public authority is satisfied that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests. If it is felt that public interest in disclosure of ACR of any employee outweighs the protected interests, decision to disclose the ACRs should be taken with the approval of the competent authority. Competent authority in the matter may be decided by the concerned public authority.
DOPT OM No. Dated: September 21, 2007