Reasons for charging extra premium on insurance policy was sought
3 Jun, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) seeking information regarding the reasons for charging extra premium from her. She desired the copy of letter/ remarks of the Zonal/ Divisional referees addressed to LIC, which they have given the advice with detailed reasoning to charge CL II health extra based on the test reports of ECG and CTMT submitted by the panel doctors of the Corporation. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information stating that what has been sought by the appellant does not fall under the definition of section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act. The First Appellate authority (FAA) denied the information 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.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant stated that she had the right to know the recorded reasons on the basis of which the insurer had taken decision to increase the premium in respect of insurance policy even though her health parameters as shown by the ECG report and tracing and CTMT report summary are clearly within the normal limits.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the applicant has the right to access information which pertains to her own health status. The Commission held that the formula/ calculations on the basis of which the figure of higher premium had been arrived at certainly falls within the exemption clause of 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; of the RTI Act but it has not been sought by the appellant. The CIC directed the PIO to provide attested photo copies of the documents to the appellant, after severing the names of the medical referees as per section 10(1) Where a request for access to information is rejected on the ground that it is in relation to information which is exempt from disclosure, then, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, access may be provided to that part of the record which does not contain any information which is exempt from disclosure under this Act and which can reasonably be severed from any part that contains exempt information. of the RTI Act.
Citation: Mrs. Trupti Rajendra Paarekh v. LIC of India in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2012/002372
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1331
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission