Joy Joseph vs Bank Of Baroda on 21 December, 2020

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Central Information Commission

Joy Joseph vs Bank Of Baroda on 21 December, 2020

1. The issues under consideration arising out of the second appeal dated 05.11.2018 include non-receipt of the following information raised by the appellant through his RTI application dated 26.04.2018 and first appeal dated 10.07.2018:-

i. Provide names and postal address (office & residence) of the Regional Managers of Kochi Regional Office for the period from 01.04.2013 to the date of receipt of this application.

ii. Provide 'Student's eligibility' criteria for an education loan (Baroda Gyan) under the norms & guidelines of Govt. of India, IBA and RBI, published by the Bank of Baroda in its website. Give the Banks' website also from where the criteria can be accessed.

iii. How many education loan applications were received from students in the B.Tech Computer Science & Engineering course, through the branches of Bank of Baroda, under Kochi Regional Office, from 01.04.2013 to the date fo receipt of this application? Supply branch wise details with details of loan application I.D. Number, loan amount, percentage of marks of the student in the qualifying examination (+2), name of the college of engineering in which the students were studied/ are studying.

iv. (a) How many education laon applications were received from students in the B.Tech course (all branches), through the branchs of Bank of Baroda, under Kochi Regional Office, from 01.04.2013 to the date of receipt of this application? Supply branch wise details with education loan application I.D. Number, loan account number, amount of loan, percentage of marks in the qualifying examination (+2), name of the college of engineering in which the students were studied/ are studying from 01.04.2013 to the date of receipt of this application.

(b) How many education loans were availed to the student in the B.Tech course (allbranches), through the branchs of Bank of Baroda, under Kochi RegionalOffice, from 01.04.2013 to the date of receipt of this application? Supply branch wise details with education loan application I.D. Number, loan number, loan amount, percentage of marks in the qualifying examination (+2), name of the college of engineering in which the students were studied/ are studying from 01.04.2013 to the date of receipt of this application.

v. How many cases filed against the Bank of Baroda under each branch of the bank under the Kochi Regional Office, with regard to education loans, from 01.04.2013 to the date of receipt of this application with regard to the rejection of education loan? How many cases, with regard to the rejection of education loan, were succeeded by the Bank and how many cases were failed by the Bank? vi. Branch wise particulars of the cases with regard to the rejection of education loan, such as case number and year, name of the petitioner, name of the respondent, name and place of the court, pending or dispoed, favourable or against to the bank, reason for the success or failure etc. may be furnished. vii. Allow the checking of Branch wise (under Emakulam R.O.) registers, files and other supporting documents with regard to the education laon centralized at a common place at the R.O. of the Bank or at the convenient time of the applicant with prior intimation over phone, at least two days in advance.

(a) Please supply the permanent residence address of the former Regional Manager Shri V. Chellaiyan (full postal address) required for correspondence.

viii. On which date and time the fire was occurred in the Regional Office of the Bank of Baroda? How many degree centigrade heat affected?

ix. What is the exact reason of fire happened? How the reason was assessed? Who was/ were witnessed the fire break in the beginning?

x. Who is responsible for the fire? Is there is any co-relation in the responsibility arising from the occurrence of fire? Who are the parties in co-relation? xi. Was there any Fire Insurance taken by the Bank of Baroda to cover the damages through fire? How much the sum assured in the policy certificate bearing which policy number from which insurance company?

xii. What all records were damaged or destroyed due to the fire causing how much amount for each one? Please give the list with amount.

xiii. Is there any file of high value/ amount or disputed or disputable files were destroyed in the fire break?

xiv What all equipment were damaged or destroyed due to the fire causing how much amount for each one? Please give the list with amount.

xv What all utensils were damaged or destroyed due to the fire causing how much amount for each one? Please give the list with amount.

xvi What all stationaries were damaged or destroyed due to the fire causing how much amount for each one? Please give the list with amount. xvii Is there any third party damage due to the fire? How much the amount? xviii Is there any damage occurred on the multi storied building in which the Regional Office of the Bank of Baroda is situating due to fire? How much the loss to the building was assessed?

xix Is ther any chance to create internal crakes on the concrete pillars, plastering, concrete bricks, floor tiles etc. and change of temper of the steel inside the concrete etc. due to the overheat from fire so as to affect the other floors in the building in the near future and in the long run, especially floors above the affected floor? Do you have an analysed certificate from a competent person?

xx     Is there any intimation to Police & Fire Force?
xxi    Is there any Fire Report, G.D. from the Fire and Rescue Department with regard

to the fire? Numbers? Do you have the same? Can you please issue certified copy? Please issue.

xxii Is there any FIR and GD from the Police with regard to the fire? Numbers? Do you have the same? Can you please issue certified copy? Please issue. xxiii Please permit to check the Fire Report, G.D. from the Fire and Rescue Department, FIR and GD from the Police Department with regard to the fire and take certified copies.

xxiv Who is the responsible officer of the R.O. of the Bank who knew the news of fire break firstly and who is the officer of the R.O. of the bank who knew the fire break lastly, during fire?

xxv Who is the responsible office of the R.O. of the Bank who reached the spot firstly and who is the officer of the R.O. of the bank who reached the spot lastly, during fire?

xxvi Who is the owner of the building where the RO of the Bank of Baroda is functioning?

xxvii Is there any case with regard to the occurrence of fire? For what? xxviii How much is the total loss assessed due to fire? How much is the claim amount received? Please issue an item wise list/ schedule of the loss assesssed due to the fire and claim amount received.

xxix What is the first item got fired by the outbreak of fire on 21.12.2017 in the Regional office of the Bank of Baroda, Ernakulam?

xxx Was there any effective precaution was taken in the Regioanl office of the Bank of Baroda, Ernakulam to prevent the outbreak of fire by short circuit etc. What are they?

xxxi Any chance of the possibility of the outbreak of fire by short circuit or otherwise was expected in advance in oreder to take effective precaution to prevent loss due to the outbreak of fire?

xxxii Who is the responsible officer to take any effective precaution in the Regional office of the Bank of Baroda, Ernakulam to prevent the outbreak of fire by short circuit etc.?

xxxiii Were there suspected any collusion to destroy files, registers, computer systems etc. with regard to any transaction of any branch or even this R.O.? If yes, details.

(b) If no. how can your confirm? Give details.

xxxiv Whether the officials of this R.O. are ready and solicited a high level investigation to convince that there were as no collusion to destroy any files, registeres, computer systems etc. with regard to any transaction of any branch or even this R.O?

2. Succinctly facts of the case are that the appellant filed an application dated 26.04.2018 under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Bank of Baroda, Ernakulam, Kerala, seeking aforesaid information. The CPIO replied on 05.06.2018. Dissatisfied with the response of the CPIO, the appellant filed first appeal dated 10.07.2018. The First Appellate Authority disposed of the first appeal vide order dated 06.08.2018. Aggrieved by this, the appellant has filed a second appeal dated 05.11.2018 before this Commission which is under consideration.

3. The appellant filed the instant appeal dated 05.11.2018 inter alia on the grounds that out of 34 queries the CPIO had provided partial information against point nos. 1 and 2 of the RTI application and remaining points were neglected by them. He in his appeal stated that he sought information in larger public interest. The appellant has requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide the certified copies of documents/information immediately free of cost, direct the Public Authority to compensate for the loss or other detriment suffered and impose penalty on the concerned CPIOs as per section 20 (1) & (2) of the RTI Act.

4. The CPIO vide letter dated 05.06.2018 furnished information on point no. 1 and against point no. 2 stated that information was available on their website www.bankofbaroda.com. Against point nos. 3 to 34, the CPIO denied the information relying upon the observations made by the Commission in appeal No. CIC/WB/C/2007/00976 dated 19.06.2009, wherein it was observed that "application for multiple queries comprising multiple categories not maintainable." Further, the FAA vide order dated 06.08.2018 gave revised reply and denied the information on point nos. 3 to 34 under clauses (d), (e) & (j) of sub section (1) of section 8 of the RTI Act.

5. The appellant remained absent and on behalf of the respondent, Shri R Babu Ravi Shanker, CPIO and Shri Hashim, Sr. Manager (Legal), Bank of Baroda, Ernakulam attended the hearing through video conference.

5.2. The respondent while defending their case inter alia submitted that they had provided information on point no. 1 of the RTI application. They further submitted that information sought on point no. 2 of the RTI application was available on their website i.e., www.bankofbaroda.com under the head, loans/educational loan . They further stated that information sought on point nos. 3 to 7a of the RTI application were related to third party information, held by the bank in fiduciary capacity, disclosure of which had no relationship to any public activity or interest. Hence, the same was exempted under section 8 (1) (e) and (j) of the RTI Act. Besides, they contended that information sought against point nos. 8 to 34 of the RTI application pertained to commercial confidence of the bank and hence the same was exempted from disclosure under section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act.

6. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing the respondent and perusal of records observes that due reply has already been given by the respondent vide their letters dated 05.06.2018 and 06.08.2018. Perusal of the RTI application further reveals that the appellant had raised multiple queries which are indefinite and non-specific, hence, it does not squarely fall within the definition of "information" as defined under section 2 (f) of the RTI Act. Besides, the appellant neither attended the hearing in spite of hearing notice having been sent to him nor filed any written objections. In the absence thereof, the averments made by the respondent were taken on record. The Commission further feels that no public purpose would be served 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) (सुरेशचं ा) Information Commissioner (सूचनाआयु ) िदनां क/Date: 21.12.2020 Authenticated true copy R. Sitarama Murthy (आर. सीताराममूत#) Dy. Registrar (उपपंजीयक) 011-26181927(०११-२६१८१९२७) Addresses of the parties:

CPIO :

BANK OF BARODA Regional Office, Vasudeva Building, T. D. Road, Ernakulam, KERALA - 682 011 THE F.A.A, Bank OF Baroda, ZONAL OFFICE CHENNAI, BARODA PRIDE, NEW No. 41, 3RD FLOOR, LUZ CHURCH ROAD, MYLAPORE, CHENNAI - 600 004 Joy Joseph

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