Copy of loan account statement was sought - CIC: The fact of a company being a public limited cannot become the ground of the bank breaching its fiduciary relationship with its borrower to reveal information concerning its account to a third party
21 Mar, 2016Facts
This matter pertains to an RTI application dated 7.10.2013 filed by the Appellant, seeking information on five points regarding a loan given by the bank to a public limited company. Not satisfied with the response of the Respondents, he filed second appeal to the CIC, which was received by the Commission on 10.1.2014.
2. The Appellant was not present in spite of a written notice having been sent to him. The Respondents reiterated the reply of the CPIO. It is noted that the Appellant sought information regarding the financial exposure taken by the bank to the above mentioned company, the name of the officer sanctioning the loan and the procedure followed for the same; as well as a copy of the loan account statement. In his reply dated 28.11.2013, the CPIO Stated that the company had been given a cash credit limit of Rs. 850 crores as on 31.3.2013 and that the sanctioning authority was the ‘Management Committee of Board’ of the bank. He denied the rest of the information. In his appeals to the FAA and to the Commission, the Appellant has stated that he is a shareholder of the company and that a public limited company should be considered as being in the public domain and the information sought by him should be provided. We are not in agreement with the above arguments of the Appellant. The fact of a company being a public limited company cannot become the ground of the bank breaching its fiduciary relationship with its borrower to reveal information concerning its account to a third party information seeker. Further, each shareholder of a company cannot seek information regarding its accounts.
3. In view of the foregoing, we uphold the decision of the CPIO in this case.
4. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
5. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
(Sharat Sabharwal)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Kalpesh Sanghavi v. UCO Bank in File No. CIC/SH/A/2014/000391