Information regarding a complaint concerning fraudulent withdrawal from the account of a firm was denied u/s 8(1)(j) - CIC: the dispute regarding alleged fraudulent withdrawal cannot be settled under the RTI Act; no ground for larger public interest
10 Jun, 2015ORDER
1. This matter pertains to an RTI application dated 12.11.2013 filed by the Appellant, seeking information on four points regarding the complaint dated 30.7.2013 filed by Shri Merajul Islam Proprietor of Madhu Mobile Services concerning fraudulent withdrawal from the account of the above firm. Not satisfied with the response of the Respondents, he filed second appeal dated 19.3.2014 to the CIC, which was received by the Commission on 24.3.2014. The matter came up for hearing today. No one was present on behalf of the Respondents. The Appellant was also not present, in spite of a written notice having been sent to him, to plead his case. We note from the records that the Respondents denied the information under Section 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act as it related to the personal information of a customer of the bank and no larger public interest was established by the Appellant. We further note that in his appeal to the Commission, the Appellant stated that some media reports had made him a party to the above case and this had caused him mental suffering. However, in our view, the dispute regarding the alleged fraudulent withdrawal cannot be settled under the RTI Act. The bank holds the information concerning its customer in a fiduciary capacity and the Appellant has established no ground or larger public interest for its disclosure to him.
2. In view of the foregoing, intervention by the Commission is not required in this case and the appeal is dismissed.
(Sharat Sabharwal)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Rakes Tater v. Central Bank of India in File No. CIC/SH/A/2014/000718