Information regarding the written off accounts of the bank under RTI
24 Apr, 2012Background
The appellant wanted the details of the written off accounts of the bank since 2007 to June 2010, the name of the borrower, the nature of the loan, the amount written off and the relevant resolutions of the Board of Directors etc. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) denied the information stating that it was of commercial confidence of third party customers of the bank and exempt under section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; and (e) of the RTI Act. The respondent further submitted that the bank had a practice of collecting the total amount of loan written off every year all over the bank but does not maintain the details in the form as sought by the appellant, namely, the name of the borrower, the nature of the loan, the amount written off and the relevant resolutions of the Board of Directors and such information would have to be collected from some 5000 branches of the bank and 65 Circle Offices.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) rejected the appeal stating that the PIO cannot be compelled to collect and compile the information as required by the appellant.
Citation: Shri K K Kulkarni v Punjab National Bank in File No.CIC/SM/A/2011/000702
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/230
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission