Should a copy of charge sheet served on a bank officer be disclosed under RTI?
2 May, 2013
Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) seeking copies of a charge sheet served on a bank officer along with the reply to the charge sheet and final order with reference to the charges made. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied for discloser under 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;
and section 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;
of the RTI Act.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that he is seeking information pertaining to certain disciplinary proceedings that have already been concluded. The respondent stated that the information was denied on grounds of third party information.The appellant stated that the information could not be denied to him because the appellant and the person about whom the information is being sought were both connected as the other officer was a senior in the same branch for which he was seeking the information. The appellant also submitted that the bank has shown partiality in a departmental proceeding to the disadvantage of the appellant and for this reason he is seeking the information.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that there is no convincing ground to deny the information to the appellant particularly in context of his submissions and directed the respondent to provide the information to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. Ramesh Batra v. Punjab National Bankin Decision No.CIC/VS/A/2012/000112/02794
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1244
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission