Kirti Kumar Pal vs National Housing Bank (Nhb) on 5 October, 2023

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Central Information Commission

Kirti Kumar Pal vs National Housing Bank (Nhb) on 5 October, 2023

1. The issue under consideration arising out of the second appeal dated 25.01.2022 include non-receipt of the following information sought by the appellant through the RTI application dated 07.09.2021 and first appeal dated 15.10.2021 :-

"I, Kirti Kumar Pal, filed an online RTI request to CPIO, RBI with reference no. RBIND/R/E/21/07015 on 3107.2021. Part of it i.e. Point no. (ii), (viii) to (x) were transferred to CPIO, NHB, (National Housing Bank) on 07.09.2021 under section 6 (3) of the RTI Act.

This is with reference to CIRP under IBC 2016 of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation in short DHFL via Order No. DOR NBFC (PD)986/03.10136/2019-20 of dated 20/11/2019 Superseding DHFL under 45 IE of RBI Act 1934 and appointment of shri R. Subramania kumar as its Administrator. He sought following information on point nos. (ii), (viii) to (x) of the RTI application:

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(ii) RBI any action prior to 20.11.2019 empowered as regulatory Authority to DHFL for non-adherence of norms like, issuing advisory, censoring, warning, imposing fine or others etc.

(viii) Availability of cash in DHFL Books on dated 20.11.2019.

(ix) Asset Cover Ratio Available on 20.11.2019.

(x) Un-audited Balance Sheet report for FY 2019-20 of DHFL and Annual Balance Sheet for FY 2019-20."

2. Succinctly facts of the case are that the appellant filed an application dated 07.09.2021 under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), National Housing Bank, Delhi. The CPIO vide letter dated 11.10.2021 replied to the appellant. Aggrieved by the same, the appellant filed first appeal dated 15.10.2021. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) vide order dated 12.11.2021 disposed of the first appeal. Aggrieved by that, the appellant filed second appeal dated 25.01.2022 before the Commission which is under consideration.

3. The appellant has filed the instant appeal dated 25.01.2022 inter alia on the grounds that reply given by the CPIO was not satisfactory. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide the complete information and take necessary action as per Section 20 (1) of the RTI Act.

4. The CPIO replied vide letter dated 11.10.2021 and the same is reproduced as under:-

(ii) Copy each of the last three show cause notices against which penalties were imposed on the HFC are as under :-

(a) Show Cause Notice dated 29.06.2018 and penalty letter dated 09.08.2018 whereby penalty of Rs 65,000 (plus applicable taxes) was imposed for Non-compliance of the provisions of para 27(2) and Para 291) (zc) of the Housing Finance Companies (NHB) Directions, 2010.

(b) Show Cause Notice dated 12.04.2019 and penalty letter dated 12.07.2019 whereby penalty of Rs. 5,000 (plus applicable taxes) was imposed for Non-

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compliance of the provisions of Housing Finance Companies - Approval of Acquisition or Transfer of Control (NHB) Directions, 2016 (Attached as Annexure II).

(c) Show Cause Notice dated 08.07.2019 and penalty letters dated 17.09.2019 & 22.10.2019 whereby penalty of Rs. 5,000 (plus applicable taxes) was imposed for Violation of Policy Circular No. 30.

(viii) & (ix). Information sought by Applicant is not maintained by NHB. Hence, NHB has no information to furnish in this regard.

(x) DHFL's balance sheet report for the financial year 2019-20 is available in public domain on its website and the link for the same is as under:

https://www.dhfl.com/docs/default-source/default-documentlibrary/annual-report- for-the-fy-2019- 0cce8779b30714da5bac28dff32b75e87.pdf?sfvrsn=afb9e41d_0 The FAA vide order dated 12.11.2021 had made the following observations:-

With respect to query no (ii). the Appellant has mentioned that the copies of documents supplied by the CPIO are not legible. The CPIO may obtain the legible copies from the concerned department and provide the same within 15 days from the date of this Order.

Regarding the request of the Appellant for specific information with respect to any action taken after the COBRA POST revelation on fraudulent transaction in DHFL (i.e. after 29/1/2019), it is observed that the information requested by the Appellant is a fresh/additional information, which cannot be considered at this stage of first appeal. However, the Appellant is at liberty to make fresh application to the CPIO for seeking additional information, if so required, as per the provisions of RTI Act.

With respect to query no (x), the Appellant has stated that the web link provided by the CPIO is not opening. The Appellant has therefore requested for the limited information like Profit - Loss Account and upfront Liquid cash/ Cash Page 3 of 5 reserve. The CPIO may obtain the same from the concerned department and provided within 15 days from the date of this Order.

5. The appellant and on behalf of the respondent Shri Aditya Sharma, CPIO and Deputy General Manager and Shri Rahul Kumar Meena, Assistant Manager, National Housing Bank, Delhi, attended the hearing in person.

5.1 The appellant inter alia submitted that in his RTI application, he sought information on 10 points from the Reserve Bank of India with reference to CIRP under IBC 2016 of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation in short DHFL via Order No. DOR NBFC (PD)986/03.10136/2019-20 of dated 20/11/2019 Superseding DHFL under 45 IE of RBI Act 1934 and appointment of Shri R. Subramania Kumar as its Administrator. He further submitted that the RBI had transferred the RTI application on point nos. (ii), (viii) to (x) under section 6 (3) of the RTI Act to CPIO, NHB, (National Housing Bank) on 07.09.2021.

He stated that the CPIO, NHB had provided point-wise reply but he was not satisfied with the reply given by the respondent on point no. (ii) of the RTI application.

5.2. The respondent while defending their case inter alia submitted that they had provided point-wise reply to the appellant vide letters dated 11.10.2021 and 12.11.2021. They further submitted that in compliance of the FAA's order, they had provided the revised information on point nos. (ii) and (x) of the RTI application vide letter dated 11.08.2023. They apologized for the inconvenience caused to the appellant due to delay in reply. The information/documents provided to the appellant vide letter dated 11.08.2023 is reproduced as under:

"(i) Letter No. NHB (ND)/ HFC/DRS/ Sup./6617/2018 dated June 29, 2018 (Page No. 1 to 2).

(ii) Letter No. NHB (ND)/ HFC/DRS/ Sup./7879/2018 dated August 9, 2018 (Page No. 3 to 5).

(iii) Letter No. NHB (ND)/ HFC/DRS/ Sup./A-3598/2018-19 dated April 12, 2019 (Page No. 6)

(iv) Letter No. NHB (ND)/ HFC/DRS/ Sup./A-6851/2019-20 dated July 12, 2019 (Page No. 7 to 8).

(v) Letter No. NHB (ND)/ HFC/DRS/ Sup./ A-104903/2019 dated September 17, 2019 (Page No. 9 to

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(vi) Letter No. NHB (ND)/ HFC/DRS/ Sup./A-11835/2019 dated October 22, 2019 (Page No. 14)

(vii) Extracts of Profit and Loss Account and the Balance Sheet of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) for the FY 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively (Page No. 15 to 22)"

6. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both the parties and perusal of records, observed that point-wise information was provided to the appellant vide letters dated 11.10.2021, 12.11.2021 and 11.08.2023. The appellant had pressed for the information sought on point no. (ii) of the RTI application only. As regard to point no. (ii), the respondent informed that copies of each of the last three show cause notices against which penalties were imposed on the HFC had been provided to the appellant. Moreover, the information sought on point no. (ii) of the RTI application was not specific. In view of the above, there appears to be no public interest in further prolonging the matter. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.

Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.

Sd/-

(Suresh Chandra) (सुसुरेशचं ा) ा सूचनाआयु ) Information Commissioner (सू दनांक/Date: 05.10.2023 Authenticated true copy R. Sitarama Murthy (आर. सीताराममूत ) Dy. Registrar (उपपंजीयक) 011-26181927(०११-२६१८१९२७) Addresses of the parties:

The CPIO National Housing Bank, Core 5A, 4th Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road , New Delhi - 110 003 First Appellate Authority National Housing Bank, Core 5A, 4th Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003 Shri Kirti Kumar Pal, Page 5 of 5

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