Appellant asked for the copy of the draft sanction order received by the SBI from the CBI - Respondent denied it on the ground of non availability of the requested information - CIC: SBI to confirm that it does not hold the draft sanction order
12 Nov, 2014Facts:
1. The appellant, Shri K. Thakshinamurthy, submitted RTI application dated 9 June 2012 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), State Bank of India, Chennai; seeking information regarding Draft Sanction Order received by the SBI from CBI etc., through a total of 5 points.
2. Vide reply dated 10 July 2012, CPIO denied the information to the appellant on the ground of non availability of the requested information. Not satisfied with the CPIO’s replies, the appellant preferred appeal dated 16 July 2012 to the first appellate authority (FAA) alleging that he had been wrongly denied the information by the CPIO concerned. Vide order dated 14 August 2012, FAA upheld the CPIO’s decision.
3. Not satisfied with the response of the public authority, the appellant preferred second appeal before the Commission.
4. The matter was heard today. The appellant stated that he required the date on which the draft sanction order was received by the SBI from the CBI along with its copy. He wanted the details of documents forwarded by the CBI to the SBI along with the draft sanction order, clarifications, if any, sought by the SBI from the CBI before according sanction and the reply of the CBI with respect to clarifications/queries raised by SBI on the draft sanction. He stated that the entire case against him has reached finality in the High Court and, therefore, he should be provided the information. He also added that earlier in two cases, the draft sanction order was provided to him.
5. The respondents added that there was no such record available with the bank as was being asked for by the appellant. No draft sanction order was received from the CBI and they had given the reply after duly verifying it with the Vigilance Department. The appellant stated that the documents being asked for by him may be available in some other department. The respondents mentioned that the SBI does not hold any record in the matter at all. So far as the decision of the CIC in case no. CIC/WB/A/2010/000581 & 776SM is concerned, para 4 of the decision reads as follows:“ 4. We have carefully considered the contents of the RTI application and the response of the CPIO. While we agree with the CPIO that the SP's report forwarded by the CBI at the time of seeking sanction cannot be disclosed as it contains information which might adversely affect the prosecution pending before the trial court, the same cannot be said about the draft sanction order, if any, sent by the CBI to the competent authority at the time of seeking sanction for prosecution. The CPIO is therefore directed to provide a copy of the draft sanction order, if any, to the Appellant within 10 working days of receiving this order.” It is clear from the order that the copy of the draft sanction order was to be provided if available. In the present case, the respondents have clearly reaffirmed that there is no ‘draft sanction order’ available with them.
Decision Notice
6. The respondents will confirm that the SBI does not hold ‘draft sanction order’ and related record as sought for by the appellant within 10 days of the receipt of the order of the Commission.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri K. Thakshinamurthy v. State Bank of India in Appeal: No. CIC/VS/A/2013/001506/MP