Details of transfer of balance from one bank account to the other
19 Mar, 2013
Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) seeking information about transfer of balance from an account of a deceased person to his wife’s account. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed him that they had called for the opinion of their Law Division about the legal aspects of the information sought.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant explained that a certain account holder had expired and transfer had been made from the account of the deceased into a newly opened account of his wife and that he wanted to know the basis on which the said transfer was made. The respondent submitted that they had denied the information under section 8(1)(j)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, 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:
Provided that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person.
and section 8(1)(d)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
of the RTI Act on the grounds of third party information. The respondent also stated that the appellant had no link with the account holder or his wife. The appellant stated that he lives in the same village of the deceased and was a member of the family.
View of CIC
The Commission accepted the contentions of the respondent and rejected the appeal.
Citation: Mr. Awadh Bihari Pandey v. Punjab National Bank, Inspection & Audit Department in Decision No. CIC/SM/C/2012/000306/VS/02438
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1132
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission