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Part of the PIO / FAA Knowledge Base.
In one line. A fiduciary relationship requires choice + trust + benefit of the provider — lawyer/client, doctor/patient, banker/customer, trustee/beneficiary. Information submitted to a public authority under a statutory requirement, employee service records held by the employer, and exam-answer-scripts are not fiduciary.
Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure.
A fiduciary relationship requires choice + trust + benefit of the provider — lawyer/client, doctor/patient, banker/customer, trustee/beneficiary. Information submitted to a public authority under a statutory requirement, employee service records held by the employer, and exam-answer-scripts are not fiduciary.
Record why the specific record qualifies as fiduciary. Statutory compliance, employment, or regulation alone do not meet the test.
| Request | Fiduciary? | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Examination answer-scripts and own marks | No | Disclose — Aditya Bandopadhyay (SC 2011) |
| Examiner's moderation working notes | Yes | Protected — Shaunak Satya (SC 2011) |
| RBI regulatory inspection reports of banks | No | Disclose — Jayantilal Mistry (SC 2015) |
| Individual bank customer account details | Yes | Protected — fiduciary bank-customer (qualified by HDFC v. CIC 2020) |
| Employee service records held by employer | No | Not fiduciary — Deshpande and progeny |
| Insurance claim file (insurer is public authority) | Yes | Fiduciary insurer-insured |
| Cabinet confidentiality / collegium documents | No | §8(1)(i), not §8(1)(e) |
| Information submitted under a statute by compulsion | No | Not fiduciary — absence of “choice” |
Q1. Are an employee's own service records fiduciary?
No. Service records are held by the employer in an employer-employee relationship, not in fiduciary capacity. An employee can access their own record directly under §2(f).
Q2. Are bank inspection reports fiduciary?
No. The Supreme Court in Jayantilal Mistry held that the RBI and a commercial bank are in a regulator-regulated relationship, which is not fiduciary.
Q3. What about an examiner's scoring?
The examiner-examinee relationship is not fiduciary (Aditya Bandopadhyay). But internal moderation working notes are fiduciary (Shaunak Satya).
Q4. Does public interest override §8(1)(e)?
Yes. §8(2) permits disclosure if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected relationship. The PIO must record this balancing in writing.
Q5. Is the lawyer-client privilege fiduciary under §8(1)(e)?
Yes. But legal advice rendered by in-house government counsel in their official capacity, on matters of public policy, can lose privilege post-decision. Case-by-case.
Last reviewed: 24 April 2026.