Table of Contents
Service book disclosure to public servant — Kerala HC
High Court of Kerala · 2021-01-01 · Citation awaited
Own service book + notings fully accessible; §8(1)(j) protects against third-party access only.
Case details
| Court | High Court of Kerala |
|---|---|
| Decided | 2021-01-01 |
| Citation | Citation awaited |
| Petitioner | Public servant |
| Respondent | Department |
| RTI Act sections | §8(1)(j) |
| Outcome | Applicant allowed |
Outcome
Public servant's own service book, APAR, and vigilance-notings disclosable under RTI — §8(1)(j) does not operate against self.
Ratio decidendi
A public servant is entitled to their own service book, APAR, transfer orders, and even vigilance / disciplinary notings subject to §8(1)(h) pending-inquiry carve-out. §8(1)(j) is a third-party-protection provision; cannot be invoked against the data subject's own access.
Keywords
service book, Kerala HC, §8(1)(j), data subject
Similar cases in the corpus
These rulings have the closest editorial ratio to this case — computed by tf-idf cosine similarity over ratio, keywords and Act sections. Useful starting points if you are researching the same point of law.
- Public servant's own service record — SC (SC 2015)
- Own APAR and service-book access (SC 2022)
- Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. CIC (SC 2012)
- IB and §24 scope — SC (SC 2018)
- Pension records — Kerala HC (HC-KER 2018)
Related
Editorial summary, not a certified report. The ratio here is an editorial compression. Before citing this ruling in a PIO order, FAA speaking order, or any appellate filing, verify against the full reported decision. RTI Wiki is not a legal service.
Editorial summary · last reviewed 21 April 2026.
Discussion