Can a borrower from a bank be the guarantor of the bank loan?
11 Feb, 2013
Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Union Bank of India seeking information on the loan accounts of certain persons and other related issues. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided part information and denied the rest under sections 8(1)(d), 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; and 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the RTI Act.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant stated that the information regarding the duties of the various functioning levels of the bank such as the financial status of the guarantor, the person who drafted the FIRs, duties of the various levels of the branch management pertaining to the loan disbursement, the annual audit reports etc. have not been furnished He stated that some more information like where the bank had suffered pecuniary loss and the processes followed by the bank in respect of deployment of lawyers also remains to be provided. The respondent submitted that the audit reports are confidential and the drafting of the FIR is a collective departmental job and it is doubtful whether specific persons can be identified as the FIR drafters. The respondent also stated that the matter is still under legal investigation process and section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; applies in the situation to many points. The appellant stated that the RTI application has been motivated out of consideration to expose the working of the bank in respect of its own processes and the employment of lawyers which lead to financial loss. The appellant stated that this is a matter where the guarantor himself is a borrower and a person who is indebted to the bank cannot be made a guarantor. The appellant claimed that he has sought information about the duties of the various functioning levels in the bank, the audit report regarding the loan account in question, and the processes by which advocates have been given the responsibility to conduct business on behalf of the bank.
View of CIC
The Commission directed the respondent to provide the information to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. Gopal Krishan Goel v. Union Bank of India in Decision No. CIC/SM/A/2011/001205/VS/01913
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1035
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission