Under RTI, the account details can be provide to authorized signatories only
20 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant claimed that he represents the majority of persons who have opened an account in the name of Indian Bank Football Team Common Fund and he sought information under the Right to Information (RTI) act on behalf of this Fund. He wanted the details of
Account Opening Form, Specimen Signature Cards, Mandate/ Resolution/ Authority, Rules and Regulations and Bye-laws of Indian Bank Football Team Common Fund obtained by Indian Bank’s Harbour Branch for opening the above said account. He also wanted the documents obtained by Indian Bank’s Harbour Branch to effect the change in the operating instruction/ authorised signatories of the above said account. The Public Information Officer (PIO) 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;
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 Right to Information (RTI) act stating that the bank has got secrecy obligation to maintain customer information. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) upheld the order of the PIO and stated that the appellant is neither the authorized person to operate the account as per records of the Bank nor represented by all the members of the association.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that the information can be provided to the authorized signatories of the account held by the bank since it is held in a fiduciary capacity. The appellant raised certain issues about the authorised signatories with the Bank.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) held that Commission is not the forum to decide who the authorised signatories of the account should be. The Commission ruled that the information is not being sought by the authorized signatories and thus this Commission cannot order disclosure of the information. The Commission rejected the appeal observing that the information sought by the appellant is exempt 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; 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.
Citation: Mr. E. Elavarasu v. Indian Bank, in Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2012/001443/19371
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/660
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission