Information regarding non credit of maturity amount of TDR in ICICI SB account of his deceased mother Smt. Mohini Devi & Smt. Pankaj Khandelwal was sought - CIC: PIO to examine whether RBI has any authority to access the information under any law
23 Oct, 2014Facts:
1. The appellant, Shri Ashok Kumar Sharma, submitted RTI application dated 5 August 2013 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Reserve Bank of India, Jaipur; seeking information regarding non credit of maturity amount of TDR in the ICICI SB account of his deceased mother Smt. Mohini Devi and Smt. Pankaj Khandelwal etc., through a total of 5 points.
2. Vide reply dated 16 August 2013, CPIO denied the information on the ground that they are not the custodian of the information requested for. Not satisfied with the CPIO’s reply, the appellant preferred an appeal dated 9 September 2013 to the first appellate authority (FAA) alleging that he had been wrongly denied the information by the CPIO concerned. Vide order dated 19 September 2013, 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 had asked for information relating to the fixed deposit in the name of his mother, Smt. Mohini Devi and Smt. Pankaj Khandelwal with ICICI Bank which matured on 21.10.2010. However, the maturity amount was not deposited in his mother’s account and Smt Pankaj Khandelwal had no account in that branch. Therefore, he wanted to know the account in which the amount was deposited. He also stated that the CPIO had not acted as per the provisions of the RTI Act and that he should have transferred the application u/s 6(3) of the Act to the
authority which holds the information. The appellant also insisted that ICICI Bank was a public authority in terms of section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; of the RTI Act.
5. The respondents submitted that the information sought by the appellant was held by ICICI Bank which was not a public authority, so the application could not be transferred u/s 6(3) of the Act. The respondents also stated that the RBI does not keep any information regarding personal accounts opened by other banks. The issue before the Commission is not whether ICICI Bank is a public authority or not. The issue remains whether the information sought from the RBI is held by them or not or as to whether it can be accessed under any law for the time being in force.
6. The CPIO is directed to examine this aspect as to whether RBI has any authority to access the information sought under any law. If he can, he will provide the information to the appellant within 15 days of the receipt of the order of the Commission. If the information cannot be accessed, the appellant may be informed accordingly. The appeal is disposed of.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Ashok Kumar Sharma v. Reserve Bank of India in Appeal: No. CIC/VS/A/2013/001961/MP