Central Information Commission
Mr.Harinder Dhingra vs Corporation Bank on 13 January, 2012
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2011/003223/16842
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2011/003223
Relevant Facts emerging from the Appeal
Appellant : Mr. Harinder Dhingra
D4A/7 D L F Phase 01,
Gurgaon-122002
Respondent : Mr. Shiv Kumar
CPIO & DGM Corporation Bank Zonal office, Hindustan Times House, 10th floor, K G Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi -110001 RTI application filed on : 02/06/2011 PIO replied : 12/07/2011 First appeal filed on : 16/07/2011 First Appellate Authority order : 09/08/2011 Second Appeal received on : 07/10/2011 Sl. Information Sought Reply of the PIO
1. Provide with the information whether the bank is extending credit to Bank is extending credit to SSI unit SSI Units of exporters & if so, do they come under priority sector. exporters The copy of Circular No. Provide with the circular of the competent authority on this. 421/2010dt.19/05/2010 is enclosed.
2. Details of loans given to exporters by your branches which come An exclusive data as to loans given to under administrative control of Zonal Manager/general Manager exports under each branch is not office at Delhi/NCR. maintained.
3. Specify the amount loaned to this sector (Exports). The question is incomplete.The data as to credit limit to exporters not maintained at Zonal Office.
4. Yearwise details of deposits of this region for last five years. The information sought are being information as to commercial confidence and personal information and exempted for disclosure under Section 7(9) and section 8(1)(d) and (j) of RTI Act 2005.
5. Yearwise details of loans advances by this region for the last five Same as answer of 4.
years.
6. Yearwise details of loans advances to exporters in this Region for Same as answer of 4.
the last five years.
7. Confirmation of whether to take loan on export documents purchase To stipulate collateral security is being on documents payable on presentation, a collateral security is must credit decision and will be taken on case for SSI exporter even if he has ECGC I Ltd cover on the buyer he to case basis. The data as to individual intends to export? borrowers as to collateral security is not been set up to promote the products.
8. If no, Provide with details of how many exporters have been given NO ANSWER finance without collateral even though they full-fill the criteria policy(taken the policy) of ECGC I Ltd.
9. If answer to 7. is yes then provide with the copy of relevant NO ANSWER circular/order of the authority.
Page 1 of 310 Details of promotional steps taken by the Region for propagating The advertisement are made for time to . this aspect of policy (as mentioned in 7.) of the bank exporters. time. Exhibition /Camps have been set up to promote the products.
11 Details of trained official strength as on date to handle/do the job of About 14 trained officers have been . purchase of foreign export documents in the Region. appointed to handle the export credit in different branches in the region.
12 Details of complaints received from exporters by this Region and During April 2010 to June 2011 no . steps taken to address the complaints. complaint has been received from exporters at this office.
13 Year vise details of NPA accounts of the region falling in Exporters An exclusive data as to NPA for exporters . category for last five years. not maintained at Zonal office. 14 Year vise details of NPA accounts compromised, written off & in Same as answer of 13. . the court/DRT cases of the Region falling in Exporters category for the last five years.
15 Details of officers &bank officials against whom the bank is Same as answer of 4. . proceedings against in vigilance cases since last ten years in the Region.
16 Provide with targets fixed for this Region for mobilizing deposits Same as answer of 4.
. for the last five years.
17 Provide with targets fixed for this Region for distributing loans for Same as answer of 4.
. the last five years.
18 Provide with targets fixed if any for the exporters as a whole and Same as answer of 4. . SSI units in particular in this Region for the last five years. 19 Provide with the disbursal of loan against export documents on The data as to said transaction not . presentation for the last five years. maintained at Zonal Office.
Grounds for the First Appeal:
Incomplete and unsatisfactory information provided by the PIO.
Order of the First Appellate Authority (FAA):
The FAA ordered most of the information to be disclosed to the Appellant within 15 days.
Grounds for the Second Appeal:
Incomplete and unsatisfactory information provided by the PIO and unfair disposal of the appeal by the FAA.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:
Appellant: Mr. Harinder Dhingra;
Respondent: Mr. Shiv Kumar, CPIO & DGM;
The Appellant states that after the order of the FAA he was asked to pay additional fee of Rs.72/- on 18/08/2011. The has erred in asking for additional fee since Section 7(6) of the RTI Act clearly lays on that the information has to be provided free of cost if the mandated period of 30 days is over. The Appellant states that eh has not received information with regard to query-15. In query-15 the appellant had sought information about "details of officers & bank officials against whom the bank is proceedings against in vigilance cases since last ten years in the Region." The PIO claims exemption under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.
Under Section 8 (1) (j) information which has been exempted is defined as: "information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information:" To qualify for this exemption the information must satisfy the following criteria:
1. It must be personal information.Page 2 of 3
Words in a law should normally be given the meanings given in common language. In common language we would ascribe the adjective 'personal' to an attribute which applies to an individual and not to an Institution or a Corporate. From this it flows that 'personal' cannot be related to Institutions, organisations or corporates. Hence Section 8 (1) (j) cannot be applied when the information concerns institutions, organisations or corporates. The phrase 'disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest' means that the information must have been given in the course of a Public activity.
Various Public authorities in performing their functions routinely ask for 'personal' information from Citizens, and this is clearly a public activity. When a person applies for a job, or gives information about himself to a Public authority as an employee, or asks for a permission, licence or authorisation, all these are public activities. Also when a Citizen provides information in discharge of a statutory obligation this too is a public activity.
We can also look at this from another aspect. The State has no right to invade the privacy of an individual. There are some extraordinary situations where the State may be allowed to invade the privacy of a Citizen. In those circumstances special provisions of the law apply;- usually with certain safeguards. Therefore where the State routinely obtains information from Citizens, this information is in relationship to a public activity and will not be an intrusion on privacy.
Certain human rights such as liberty, freedom of expression or right to life are universal and therefore would apply uniformly to all human beings worldwide. However, the concept of 'privacy' is a cultural notion, related to social norms, and different societies would look at these differently. Therefore referring to the UK Data protection act or the laws of other countries to define 'privacy' cannot be considered a valid exercise to constrain the Citizen's fundamental Right to Information in India. Parliament has not codified the right to privacy so far, hence in balancing the Right to Information of Citizens and the individual's Right to Privacy the Citizen's Right to Information would be given greater weightage. The Supreme of India has ruled that Citizens have a right to know about charges against candidates for elections as well as details of their assets, since they desire to offer themselves for public service. It is obvious then that those who are public servants cannot claim exemption from disclosure of charges against them or details of their assets. Given our dismal record of misgovernance and rampant corruption which colludes to deny Citizens their essential rights and dignity, it is in the fitness of things that the Citizen's Right to Information is given greater primacy with regard to privacy. Therefore we can state that disclosure of information such as assets of a Public servant, -which is routinely collected by the Public authority and routinely provided by the Public servants,- cannot be construed as an invasion on the privacy of an individual. There will only be a few exceptions to this rule which might relate to information which is obtained by a Public authority while using extraordinary powers such as in the case of a raid or phone tapping.
In the instant case the information being sought by the appellant certain does not fall in the exemption clause of Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act and hence the PIO's claim for exemption is not upheld.
Decision:
The Appeal is allowed.
The PIO is directed to provide the information to the Appellant on query-15 before 05 February 2012.
This decision is announced in open chamber.
Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties. Any information in compliance with this Order will be provided free of cost as per Section 7(6) of RTI Act.
Shailesh Gandhi Information Commissioner 13 January 2012 (In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.)(SH) Page 3 of 3