Can interest subvention disbursed to a particular account holder be disclosed under RTI?
28 Jan, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Canara Bank seeking information on the scheme of interest subvention for crop production loans and other details. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided part information while denying information related to details of the farmers who had not repaid and who were not considered for interest subvention under section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; and 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.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that he wanted to have the information about a particular customer and the amount received from the government for payment and the amount actually disbursed to him. The respondent stated that the information being specifically sought now by the appellant had not been mentioned in the RTI application and they were not aware of the details at this particular point. They also stated that if the appellant applied to the respondent bank under the RTI Act, they would be able to consider his request under the provisions of law. The appellant stated that he is seeking information whether the benefit of the interest subvention have been passed on to his son-in-law which the bank can easily provide by simply informing him about the facts of the interest subvention disbursed to this particular account holder and the amount received from the government. The appellant stated that it is a matter of public interest to know the correct facts as he believed that this amount was not passed on to the particular account holder.
View of CIC
The Commission directed the PIO to provide to the appellant the information sought by him.
Comments
Citation: Mr. V.S. Nathan v. Canara Bank RTI Section in Decision No. CIC/SM/A/2011/002461/VS/01717
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/997
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission