Central Information Commission
Rajesh Kumar Sharma vs Oriental Bank Of Commerce on 8 November, 2021
Author: Suresh Chandra
Bench: Suresh Chandra
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबा गंगनाथ माग,मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई िद ी, New Delhi - 110067
िशकायत सं या / Complaint No. CIC/OBKOC/A/2017/603273/C and
CIC/OBKOC/C/2017/144884
Rajesh Kumar Sharma ...िशकायतकता/Complainant
VERSUS
बनाम
CPIO: Punjab National Bank
Faridabad ... ितवादीगण/Respondents
(Erstwhile Oriental Bank of
Commerce)
Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:
RTI : 19.05.2016 FA : 24.06.2016 SA :06.08.2016 CNC : 28.02.2019
CPIO: No Reply FAO :No Order Order : 05.12.2018 Hearing :13.10.2021
CORAM:
Hon'ble Commissioner
SHRI SURESH CHANDRA
ORDER
(05.11.2021)
1. The issue under consideration is the complaint of non-compliance (CNC) of CIC's order dated 05.12.2018 in this matter.
2. Succinctly facts of the case are that the complainant filed an application dated 19.05.2016 under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Oriental Bank of Commerce, Amritsar, seeking following information:-
Bills of expenditure, AMC and purchase of office supplies from 2009-2015.Page 1 of 7
(i) Provide copies of bills against which payments have been made to officer (mention in RTI application) employees of bank. Kindly also provide copy of bank's policy guidelines on reimbursement of repair and maintenance expenses incurred on S.F.F. at Officer's residence.
(ii) Provide copies of bills against which payments have been made to different vendors.
(iii) (1) Name and address of vendor(s) who were given contract of AMC of air conditioners installed in branches and regional office and other centers during 2009-2014. Also give information of total expenditure incurred during the period on repair and maintenance under AMC of ACs. (2) Provide copy of contract of AMC along with terms and conditions of AMC. (3) Total AMC paid to M/s Khanna Business Machine during 2009-2015 and provide copy of AMC contracts awarded to subject firm for servicing S.F.F. of bank. Provide details i.e. year wise, item wise, branch wise repair of S.F.F. (4) Kindly provide details of visits of subject vendor and copy of branch certificate, if any, obtained by subject vendor for repairing/servicing of S.F.F. items in B/o Rayya (2009-2010), Fatehgarh Churian (2010-2011), MICR (2011-2013) (5) Provide copy of tenders inviting bids/quotations from other vendors, if any, during 2009-14 with respect to grant of AMC contract including AMC contract to M/s. Khanna Business Machine. (6) Provide items wise AMC contract (copy of contract, sanction letter, AMC amount and duration of AMC contract etc.) for CCTV, DVR system, Fax machines, printers, Photostat machines during stated period from M/s.
Khanna Business Machine. Also provide HO guidelines in this respect as well.
Page 2 of 7(7) Give information regarding CCTV, DVR system, fax machines, printers, Photostat machines purchased during 2009-2015 from Khanna Business Machine. Date of purchase, item purchased, original cost and AMC contract amount etc. (8) Provide copy of bank's guidelines on acquiring capital assets for bank and its branches, applicable during stated period.
(9) Provide copy of advertisement/tender/bids called from competitors and dealers in local market before purchasing CCTV, DVR system, Fax machines, printers, photostat machines during stated period. (10) Provide copy of authorization certificate from HP/ Samsung/ WEP for supply of computer consumables, by subject vendor. (11) List of 5 minimum banks or Government Department, Corporate clientele and other major institutional clients to whom subject vendor had supplied computer stationary. Give details. Did vendor give any certificate regarding this, if yes, should be provided.
(iv) Mr. Pradeep Chauhan, DGM was given incentive by bank as under. Give details. Kindly provide details regarding noted amounts of incentives paid to subject officer i.e. purpose of payment, scheme under which it was paid, IRDA/RBI guidelines on payment of incentives on insurance business. (2) Kindly provide details i.e. Amount of incentive, date of payment, source of payment, overhead debited for payment, etc. given to subject officer employee after 2013 till posting in RO Amritsar, under JV Business and/or any other scheme of bank, if any, and details of scheme etc. (3) Insurance Business marketed and income earned in JV business during his posting as Regional Head.
(4) Total NPAs of Amritsar Region as on date of his taking charge and total NPAs of Regional when he relinquished his charge as Regional Head.
Page 3 of 7(5) Total incentives paid under all incentivized schemes operational in bank during 2009-2015 to Sh. S.N. Chopra, Sh. A.S. Cheema, Sh. Pradeep Chauhan etc. give details amount wise and date wise.
(v) Regional Office vide its letter dated 16.11.2009 written to CM, MICR Amritsar signed by Mr. Bhatti had allowed increase in monthly charges of operating Central AC plant from Rs. 5500 to Rs. 7500 nearly by 36%. (1) Kindly provide bank's guidelines on allowing increase in AMC/monthly charges, copy of approval from competent authority, office notes, request of vendor, recommendation of MICR CM.
(2) Provide copy of original sanction of AMC to M/s Trehan Air Conditioning & Electric Works.
(3) In stated letter granting approval for 40% rise in monthly charges from Rs. 5500/- month to Rs. 7500/- month it was stated that rise in charges were unjustified, what was reasons recorded for sanctioning the stated rise then. (4) Model of ownership of AC plant:- it was owned by bank or by owner of building, provide details.
(5) If owned by building owner, provide details of contract MoU entered into between bank and owner for its operation and bearing cost of operation. (6) Did CM of MICR negotiate with vendor for slashing down the stated rise in monthly charges, if yes, give details and if no, what were reasons given for non compliance of RO instructions.
(7) When did bank authorities take cognizance to stated irregularity for non compliance of competent authority's instruction/directions given in stated letter.
(8) Provide details of 40TN Central AC plant installed in MICR center. If it was not owned by bank, provide copy of agreement with owner, if plant owned by bank, give its present position.
Page 4 of 7(9) If said plant was owned by bank, provide details i.e. capital cost of plant, depreciation reserve, funds realized on disposal of plant, if disposed, name & address of successful vendor to whom sold, list of vendors/ bidders who participated in bidding.
(vi) (1) Provide copy of bill and sanction letter for bill of Rs. 24485 paid on 23.05.09 by MICR to M/s. Trehan Air conditioner.
(2) Provide copy of bills and sanction letters for following bills of M/s Sanjay Stationery Mart paid in MICR Rs. 47224 paid on 13.07.09, bill of Rs. 45421 paid on 20.10.10, bill of Rs. 33635 paid on 24.03.11 The CPIO and the FAA did not reply to the RTI application as well as first appeal. Aggrieved by the same, the complainant had filed a second appeal dated 06.08.2016 before the Commission which was under consideration and the Commission vide order dated 05.12.2018 passed the following directions:
"10. In view of the above, the Commission notes that no satisfactory reply in response to the RTI application was given to the appellant. The Commission, therefore, directs the Registry of this Bench to issue a Show Cause Notice to Shri R.K. Sharma, the then CPIO, Chief Manager, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Sector- 17, Faridabad for explaining as to why action under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act should not be initiated against him. Shri Sanjeev Malhotra, Asstt. General Manager, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Regional Office, Amritsar, Punjab shall ensure that a copy of this order is served upon Shri R.K. Sharma, the then CPIO, Chief Manager, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Sector-17, Faridabad.
11. The Commission directs the respondent to resend a copy of the CPIO's reply dated 22.06.2016 to the appellant. The Commission also directs the CPIO to provide the information sought vide Part 1, point nos. 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9 of Part 3, point no. 4 of Part 4 and point nos. 1, 4 and 9 of Part 5 of the RTI application except the details of quotations/ tenders/ invitations/bids received Page 5 of 7 from the unsuccessful contractors/bidders to whom the contract/work order was not awarded, which is not disclosable under the RTI Act. The Commission, therefore, directs the CPIO to provide information on the above said points of the RTI application, after severing that part of information which relates to the personal information of third parties, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public interest and would cause an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the third parties and hence, the disclosure of the information sought is exempted under Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act, 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."
3. The complainant vide letter dated 28.02.2019 filed complaint for non-compliance of the order of the Commission dated 05.12.2018.
4. In compliance of the order of the Commission, the respondent provided revised point-wise information on 25.01.2019.
5. The complainant attended the hearing through video conference and the respondent Shri Ajay Sharma, Counsel on behalf of Punjab National Bank, Delhi attended the hearing in person.
5.1. The complainant inter alia submitted that the respondent had not effectively complied with the directions passed by the Commission and the information provided by them was incomplete.
5.2. The counsel for the respondent was unable to present the facts of the case and sought an adjournment from the Commission.
6. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both the parties and perusal of records, observed that the respondent(CPIO) remained absent in spite of written notice being served upon them and the same is viewed seriously by the Commission. In absence of the respondent (CPIO), the complaint for non- compliance and reasons thereof, if any, cannot be ascertained. In view of the above, the respondent are given a final opportunity to submit their written explanations. Shri R.K. Page 6 of 7 Sharma, the then CPIO, Chief Manager, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Sector- 17, Faridabad, and Shri Sunil Kumar Jha, present CPIO, Punjab National Bank are show caused as to why penalty under section 20 (1) of the RTI Act may not be imposed upon each of them for not furnishing the requisite information and for not complying with the Commission's order dated 05.12.2018. The present CPIO is given the responsibility to serve a copy of this order upon the then CPIO and secure his written explanations as well as his attendance on the next date of hearing. All written submissions may be uploaded on the Commission's web portal within 21 days. Meanwhile, the respondent is directed that suitable revised reply/information be made available to the appellant and a copy of the same be uploaded on the Commission's web portal.
Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
(Suresh Chandra) (सुरेशचं ा) Information Commissioner (सूचनाआयु ) िदनां क/Date: 05.11.2021 Authenticated true copy R. Sitarama Murthy (आर. सीताराममूत ) Dy. Registrar (उपपंजीयक) 011-26181927(०११-२६१८१९२७) Addresses of the parties:
CPIO :
1. THE CENTRAL PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK, Circle Office, NH-5 NIT, Neelam Chowk, Faridabad - 121001 (for forwarding to the then C.P.I.O Sh. R.K. SHARMA) (ERSTWHILE ORIENTAL BANK OF COMMERCE, FARIDABAD) Rajesh Kumar Sharma Page 7 of 7