Appellant: His representation sent by Speed Post was delivered in the CMD office - CIC: Record keeping is a key function of any public authority; FAA to inquire into the ‘missing’ representation & take departmental action; submit copy of inquiry report
30 Apr, 2018O 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), Oriental Bank of Commerce, Head Office, Gurgaon seeking information on three points, including, inter-alia,
(i) affirmation of the fact that the appellant was promoted to officer cadre vide letter dated 23.04.2012 conveyed to him on 09.05.2012 and demotion letter was issued on 03.09.2013 and
(ii) details of process note moved, processed and approved by various officials, their name, id no. and address as per bank record and copy of the complete file with notesheet in which this case was processed pertaining to withdrawal of offer of promotion on 03.09.2013 to Chief General Manager(HRD) signed by erstwhile Regional Head, Delhi.
2. The appellant filed a second appeal before the Commission on the grounds that the CPIO denied information on address of officials sought on point no. 2(b) claiming exemption 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 and information on point no. 3 was not provided stating that it is not traceable in their record. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide complete information sought by him.
Hearing:
3. The appellant, Shri Dinesh Bhagat and the respondent Shri T. K. Singh, Chief Manager, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Head Office, Gurgaon were present in person.
4. The appellant submitted that information furnished to him on point no. 3 of his RTI application is not correct. He asserted that the representation dated 14.10.2013 was sent through speed post and was also delivered personally to the office of the CMD. However, he has been informed that his representation was not available in the records of the bank.
5. The respondent reiterated that the appellant’s representation dated 14.10.2013 has not been received by the bank, hence, no information could be provided to the appellant.
Decision:
6. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of both the parties and perusing the records, observes that as per the appellant his representation dated 14.10.2013 was sent by Speed Post vide tracking no. ED 888476332 IN and also delivered personally to the office of the CMD. Hence, it can be presumed that the RTI application was delivered to the bank. The Commission notes that record keeping and proper maintenance of files is a key function of any public authority. In view of this, it is imperative to ascertain the facts leading to the misplacement of the representation dated 14.10.2013 submitted by the appellant. The Commission, therefore, directs the First Appellate Authority, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Head Office, Gurgaon to inquire into the matter of the ‘missing’ representation and to ascertain as to whether the representation was actually misplaced or the CPIO had taken that plea to deny information to the appellant. The FAA shall also, if required, take appropriate departmental action against the officers/officials responsible for the misplacement of the representation. A copy of the inquiry report along with the action taken report may be provided to the Commission as well as to the appellant within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
7. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of. 8. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
(Sudhir Bhargava)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Dinesh Bhagat v. Oriental Bank of Commerce, RTI Cell in Decision No. CIC/OBKOC/A/2017/179224 Dated 28.03.2018