Central Information Commission
A P Verma vs State Bank Of India on 10 August, 2018
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबा गंगनाथ माग
, मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई द
ली, New Delhi - 110067
ि तीय अपील सं या / Second Appeal No. CIC/SBIND/A/2017/133213
A P Verma ... अपीलकता /Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
CPIO, State Bank of India,
Regional Business Office-III, The
Mall, Kanpur ... ितवादीगण /Respondents
Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:
RTI : 14.09.2016 FA : 01.11.2016 SA : 01.04.2017
CPIO : 18.10.2016 FAO : 25.11.2016 Hearing : 08.08.2018
ORDER
1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), SBI RBO-III, Kanpur, seeking information on nine points pertaining to two education loan accounts of his sons with SBI, Orai City Branch, Uttar Pradesh, including, inter- alia, (i) copy of pension loan application form provided to him by the Branch Manager, and (ii) copy of page no. 104.42 of Inspection and Audit Report dated Page 1 of 5 12.01.2007 of the Branch relating to comments of the Inspector on the loan accounts of his sons.
2. The appellant filed a second appeal before the Commission on the grounds that the information/documents as sought by him has been deliberately not provided to him by the CPIO. The appellant requested the Commission to take necessary and stringent action against the respondent for failing to provide the desired information.
Hearing:
3. The appellant, Shri A P Verma and the respondent, Shri Praveen Awasthi, CPIO & Regional Manager, SBI RBO-II, The Mall, Kanpur, attended the hearing through video-conferencing.
4. The appellant submitted that no information/documents have been provided to him by the CPIO on point nos. 6, 7 and 9 of his RTI application. Moreover, the respondent has deliberately misplaced his pension loan application form dated 13.05.2016 sought vide point no. 6 of the RTI application. The appellant further stated that the CPIO has wrongly denied the copy of page no. 104.42 of Inspection and Audit Report dated 12.01.2007 of the Branch under Section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act as he has only sought the extract/comments of the Inspector relating to the loan accounts of his sons and he is a co-borrower. With respect to point no. 9 of the RTI application, the appellant submitted that there has been misuse of bank's funds in the overdraft and cash credit accounts mentioned by him in the RTI application. Hence, the account statements of the said accounts should be provided.
Page 2 of 55. The respondent submitted that point-wise information as per the available records has been provided to the appellant vide letter dated 18.10.2016. The respondent stated that there is no pension loan application, as sought vide point no. 6 of the RTI application, in the records of the Branch. The respondent stated that the retention period for Inspection and Audit Reports which are for internal use of the bank is three years. Hence, as on date the retention period of the Inspection and Audit Report dated 12.01.2007 is over, and the relevant documents have been weeded out. Hence, no information can be provided to the appellant on point no. 7 of the RTI application. The respondent further stated that the appellant has sought account statements of accounts of third parties vide point no. 9 of his RTI application. The aforesaid information is held by the bank in a fiduciary capacity and also pertains to personal information of third parties. Further, no larger public interest would be served by the disclosure of information. Hence, such information is exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(e) and (j) of the RTI Act.
Decision:
6. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of both the parties and perusing the records, observes that the appellant asserted that a pension loan application form was submitted by him to the Branch Manager, Orai City Branch, Dist. Jalaun (U.P.). However, the respondent affirmed during the hearing that no such application is available in the records of the Branch. The Commission further notes that record keeping and proper maintenance of files is a key function of any public authority. In view of this, it is imperative to ascertain the facts leading to the misplacement of the records relating to the pension loan application dated 13.05.2016 submitted by the appellant to the Branch Manager, Orai City Branch, Page 3 of 5 Dist. Jalaun (U.P.). The Commission, therefore, directs the First Appellate Authority, GM (Network-II), SBI Local Head Office, Lucknow to inquire into the matter of the 'missing' pension application form and to ascertain as to whether the records were actually misplaced or the CPIO had taken that plea to deny information to the appellant. The FAA shall also, if required, take appropriate departmental action against the officers/officials responsible for the misplacement of the records. A copy of the inquiry report along with the action taken report may be provided to the Commission as well as to the appellant within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order under intimation to this Commission.
7. The Commission also directs the respondent to provide a copy of the Record Retention Schedule as well as the order of the Competent Authority for the destruction of records relating to the Inspection and Audit Report dated 12.01.2007, to the appellant within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order under intimation to the Commission.
8. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
9. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sudhir Bhargava (सुधीर भाग व) Information Commissioner (सूचना आयु ) दनांक / Date 09.08.2018 Authenticated true copy (अिभ मािणत स यािपत ित) S. S. Rohilla (एस. एस. रोिह ला) Dy. Registrar (उप-पंजीयक) 011-26105682 / [email protected] Page 4 of 5 Addresses of the parties:
1. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) State Bank of India, Regional Business Office-III, Administrative Office, The Mall, Kanpur- 208001
2. The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), State Bank of India, Regional Business Office-III, Administrative Office, The Mall, Kanpur- 208001.
3. Shri A P Verma Page 5 of 5