Information regarding classification of his industry as NPA under SARFAESAI Act etc., was sought - CIC: indicate the specific portion of RBI guidelines according to which a loan account becomes NPA if one fails to pay a loan installments after 90 days
13 Sep, 2014Facts:
1. The appellant, Shri Hitesh Kumar M. Gandhi, submitted RTI application dated 22 The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923), and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act. June 2013 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), State Bank of India, Junagarh; seeking information regarding details of classification of his Arihant Industries as NPA under SARFAESAI Act etc., through a total of 6 points.
2. Vide reply dated 19 July 2013, CPIO furnished information on point nos. 1, 2, 4 & 5; denied the information on point no. 3 u/s 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, 2005; also denied information on point no. 6 on the ground that the requested information was out of the purview of RTI Act, 2005. Not satisfied with the CPIO’s reply, the appellant preferred an appeal dated 25 July 2013 to the first appellate authority (FAA) alleging that he had been provided evasive and incomplete information by the CPIO concerned. Vide order dated 7 August 2013, FAA upheld the CPIO’s decision.
3. Not satisfied with the response of the public authority, the appellant preferred second appeal before the Commission.
4. The matter was heard today. The appellant submitted that he sought copies of the calculation sheet on the basis of which his loan was declared as NPA and recovery proceedings against him were initiated under the SARFAESI Act by the public authority.
5. The respondent submitted that no separate calculation sheet is available. The recovery proceedings were initiated since the appellant had taken a loan of Rs 25 lakh from the SBI. The appellant had shown a projection of Rs.150 lakh but a low turnover of only Rs. 11 lakh was shown by his firm. In November 2012, the bank asked the appellant to refund the loan amount in the next 3 months with some possible extension. The appellant did not pay any installments and automatically after 90 days his loan account became NPA in accordance with the RBI guidelines.
Decision Notice
6. The CPIO is directed to clearly indicate the specific portion of the RBI guidelines according to which a loan account becomes NPA if one fails to pay any of the loan installments after the expiry of 90 days. The information as above is to be provided to the appellant in the next 3 days.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Hitesh Kumar M. Gandhi v. State Bank of India in Appeal: No. CIC/VS/A/2013/001397/MP