Receipt of foreign exchange against an invoice to be disclosed
17 Dec, 2011Background
The appellant gave some details of an invoice and sought information whether foreign currency has been received against it. The PIO replied that the name of the appellant is not visible in any of the export invoices enclosed with the application. Holding that the bank was unable to establish the relationship of the appellant with the instant case, the PIO claimed exemption under section 8 (1) (d) and section 8 (1) (j) of the Right to Information Act. The PIO observed that the Bank is obliged to maintain the secrecy of the customer’s transactions. On appeal, the FAA upheld the decision of PIO.
View of CIC
The appellant stated that he was seeking information about whether foreign currency has been received against a particular invoice. The PIO has claimed exemption from giving the information claiming fiduciary relationship. The Commission accepted that information relating to the transactions of a customer are held by the Bank in fiduciary capacity and hence are exempt 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; of the RTI Act. However, the Commission observed that in the instant case, the appellant is not seeking information relating to the transactions of the customer but he wanted the specific information only whether foreign exchange was realized against a particular invoice numbers mentioned by him. The Commission directed the PIO to provide information to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. K V Ramakrishan v. Syndicate Bank in Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2011/002802/16191