Information related to assets and liabilities of government employees are not private: Madras HC

Chennai: The Madras High Court has ruled that information related to the assets and liabilities of government employees cannot be considered private and must fall within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The court emphasised that public servants, by virtue of their roles, are subject to public scrutiny and accountability.

A bench led by Justice C.V. Karthikeyan clarified that while certain personal details in an employee’s service register may remain private, the entirety of the register cannot be labelled as such. The judgment was delivered in response to a petition filed by RTI activists M. Tamilselvan and T. Sangeetha, who sought details of an assistant engineer’s assets in the Irrigation Department of Krishnagiri district.

The petitioners challenged the rejection of their RTI application by the District Collector, arguing that the information sought was crucial for public transparency. However, the court noted that in special cases, details regarding certain actions taken by government employees may remain undisclosed.