Should documents pertaining to bank account of a public trust be disclosed under RTI?
4 Jul, 2013
Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with Syndicate Bank seeking information regarding the details and documents submitted by a public trust at the time of opening of an account. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information 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;
of the RTI Act.
Proceedings
During the hearing the before Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant stated that the public trust had opened an account without submitting proper documents with the bank. He also stated that the trust is a public trust and he is entitled to know the details of the account pertaining to the trust. The respondent stated that the information sought by the appellant was of a public trust which has no connection with the appellant. The respondent also stated that even if the trust is a public trust, being a customer of the bank, they are entitled to confidentiality. The respondent informed that due to this reason and the fiduciary nature of the relationship they could not divulge the information sought by the appellant.
View of CIC
The Commission upheld the decision of the PIO and rejected the appeal.
Citation: Mr. Chandra Shekhar Aggarwal v. Syndicate Bank in Decision No. CIC/VS/A/2012/000649/03548
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1416
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission