Details of Form 10 should be made public: CIC to EPFO

04/09/2010
Details of Form 10 should be made public: CIC to EPFO
New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) The details of Form 10 submitted by an office to Employees'' Provident Fund Organisation, which consists of information about workers who have resigned, should be disclosed under the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission has held.
The CIC directed the EPFO to disclose the Form 10 details submitted by a leading newspaper group which were demanded by an RTI applicant.
It is mandatory for organisations to file Form 10 every month as per Provident Fund (PF) norms. The form has details of employees who have left the organisation and ceased to be PF contributors.
Gurkirat Singh Dhillon of Patiala has sought to know from EPFO the details of form 10 submitted by the newspaper group for a particular period.
The EPFO refused to disclose the details saying the records have been held in "fiduciary capacity", exempted from disclosure under the RTI Act, by the Regional PF Commissioner and cannot be made public.
"The Form-10 given by employer to the PF Department is in fulfilment of a statutory obligation and this does not qualify as information given in a fiduciary relationship. In view of this the Commission rejects the contention of the PIO that the information is exempt under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act," Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said.
"The PIO is directed to provide the information to the appellant before September 25, 2010," he said.