Is applicant obliged to give identification proof for getting the information?
25 Jan, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Canara Bank seeking information on a saving bank account. The Public Information Officer (PIO) responded to the appellant. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) informed that the appellant had to appear personally before the branch along with his photo, photo identity card and residential proof to get the information.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent stated that the bank was reluctant to provide the information because the facts as stated by the appellant did not match up with the facts available with the bank and the bank could not take the risk of providing information to a person whose identity could not be verified. The respondent also stated that it appears that the appellant is a detenu in judicial custody and he may have opened an account at some point of time but the date which he had shown in his RTI application did not match the records available with the bank. It appeared that the account had not been operated for a long time which had led to the account becoming a dormant account. The respondent further submitted that a dormant account can become an operational account with the fulfillment of some formalities such as provision of photo I.D. and residence proof etc. However where there is the case of a detenu, it would be expected that the detenu would at least provide some evidence that he is the same person who had opened the account. The respondent also stated that they would write a letter to the appellant at the address provided by him and ask him to send some proof of his identity to enable the bank to provide the information sought.
View of CIC
The Commission directed the respondent to provide the appellant the information related to the appellant on verification of identity. If the appellant is in judicial custody the bank must facilitate the identity verification formalities at the place where the appellant is held.
Citation: Mr. Kamal Singh v. Canara Bank in Appeal No. CIC/SM/A/2011/002834/VS
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/989
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission