An account was allegedly opened in the name the appellant in a fraudulent manner by his son - CIC: The Appellant has no direct connection to this account - CIC: The Appellant is not entitled to receive the information
2 Jul, 2016Date of decision: 16th May 2016
Information sought
This matter concerns RTI application filed by the Appellant, seeking information on four points regarding details of holder of an account, documents submitted at the time of opening of account and copy of the letter dated 17.4.2014 addressed to the account holder by the bank.
The CPIO reply The CPIO did not reply within the stipulated time period.
Grounds of the First Appeal The Appellant did not receive any information from the CPIO.
Order of the First Appellate Authority No order passed.
Grounds of the Second Appeal Non response from the CPIO and the FAA.
Relevant facts emerging during the hearing, Discussion and Decision.
The Appellant was not present during the hearing in spite of a written notice having been sent to him. The representative of the Respondents stated that the information sought was in regard to an account opened in the name of one Shri Vivek Kumar in January 2014. According to him, the account was opened in the name of Shri Vivek Kumar by Shri Anurag Sharma, who is the son of the Appellant. Shri Anurag Sharma affixed his own photograph on the account forms and also submitted certain forged identity documents in the name of Shri Vivek Kumar, which bore the photograph of Shri Anurag Sharma. When the bank sent a letter at the address given in the account opening form for confirmation of the address, the father of Shri Vivek Kumar, Shri Srinath Misra, approached the bank to inform that his son had not opened the account. The account was, therefore, frozen and on the basis of a complaint filed to the police by Shri Srinath Misra, the matter was investigated by them. The investigation revealed that Shri Anurag Sharma had opened accounts in a similar fraudulent manner in some other banks also. Shri Arvind Kumar, Senior Branch Manager, stated that since the matter was under investigation, the RTI application was not responded to. Shri Srinath Misra, father of Shri Vivek Kumar was also present at the NIC Studio, Gonda, having been informed of the hearing by the bank. He sought to give us details of certain other frauds committed by Shri Anurag Sharma. He was informed that the limited issue before the Commission was the information sought by the Appellant and the Commission would not sit in judgment over the manner of opening of the account in question or any other alleged frauds committed by Shri Anurag Sharma.
2. We have considered the submissions of the Respondents and note that the matter concerns an account opened in the name of Shri Vivek Kumar, allegedly in a fraudulent manner by Shri Anurag Sharma. Shri Vishwanath Pratap Sharma, the Appellant has no direct connection to this account, as the allegation regarding commission of fraud in opening the account is against his son and not against him. Therefore, in our view, he is not entitled to receive the information sought by him in the RTI application. Accordingly, the bank need not take any further action on the same.
3. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
4. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
(Sharat Sabharwal)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Vishwanath Prasad Sharma v. Andhra Bank in File No. CIC/SH/A/2015/000524