Information pertaining to the credit facilities sanctioned to M/s Apex Encon Projects Pvt. Ltd. & E-Auction was denied u/s 8(1)(j) - CIC: It pertains to the personal information of a third party; disclosure has no relationship to any public interest
19 Jan, 2019O R D E R
1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), State Bank of India, Stressed Assets Management Branch, Secunderabad, Khairatabad, Hyderabad seeking information on eight points pertaining to the credit facilities sanctioned to M/s Apex Encon Projects Pvt. Ltd., and E-Auction, including, interalia
(i) certified copy of the Demand Notice dated 25.12.2015,
(ii) details of the scheduled properties to be sold, and
(iii) loan amount issued date-wise along with the interest rates applicable.
2. The appellant filed a second appeal before the Commission on the grounds that the information sought by him has not been provided either by the CPIO or the FAA. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the respondents to provide the information which is required for filing criminal case.
Hearing:
3. The appellant was not present despite notice. The respondent Shri B. Umanath, Assistant General Manager, State Bank of India, Hyderabad, attended the hearing through video conferencing.
4. The respondent submitted that point wise information has been provided to the appellant vide letter dated 28.12.2016. The respondent clarified that the information sought for vide point nos. 1 to 6 of the RTI application relates to M/s Apex Encon Projects Private Limited, a third party. The respondent further stated that such information is of commercial confidence and cannot be provided to the appellant who is a third party. In response to point no. 7 of the RTI application, the appellant was intimated that the auction was conducted on 09.12.2016 but was not successful due to non-participation of bidders.
Decision:
5. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of the respondent and perusing the records, observes that the information sought vide point nos. 1 to 6 of the RTI application pertains to the personal information of a third party (M/s Apex Encon Projects Private Limited), the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public interest and would cause an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the third parties. Hence, its disclosure is exempted under Section 8(1)(j) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information: Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. of the RTI Act. In view of this, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the matter.
6. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
7. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sudhir Bhargava
Information Commissioner
Citation: Avisetty Satyanarayana Murthy v. CPIO, State Bank of India in Second Appeal No. CIC/SBIND/A/2017/145216, Date: 05.12.2018