Is bank authorised to transfer amount from FD to other account without account holder’s consent?
15 Feb, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking information regarding her account opening form and fixed deposits with the bank. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided some information to the appellant.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that she had deposited an amount of Rs. one crore in the bank by way of fixed deposit and that money was transferred by the bank without her authority. The appellant also stated that she had never given the authority for this transaction and that the bank had already acknowledged that the special term deposit had been appropriated to another loan account. The appellant further stated that the bank has already acknowledged that there is a record in the bank which reveals that amount from the special term deposit was appropriated. In this connection, she wanted to get a copy of the records that the bank has acknowledged exists with the bank. The appellant argued that this is her money and the bank should give her the records that are being referred to by the bank itself. The respondent stated that the entire information available with the bank has been provided. The appellant counter argued that the respondent is giving contradictory statements and that the respondent has acknowledged that there are certain records available with them.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that this is a matter where the information pertaining to the bank records relates to the appellant and the appellant must be able to access the papers in light of this hearing. The CIC directed the respondent to enable the appellant to inspect all the records pertinent to the RTI application and provide photo copies of the documents thereafter.
Citation: Mrs. Radhika Aggarwal v. State Bank of India in Decision No. CIC/DS/A/2012/000059/VS/02011
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1054
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission