Agreement between Western Union Money Transfer and Department of Posts not to be disclosed

Background

The appellant sought the details about the terms and conditions of agreement signed between Department of Posts, Government of India, and Western Union Money Transfer. Both the Public Information Officer (PIO) as well as the First Appellate Authority (FAA) refused to disclose the information under section 8(1) (d) of the RTI Act.

View of CIC

During the hearing, the respondent submitted that the Government of India has entered into an agreement with Western Union Money Transfer under which Indians living abroad can transfer money through the Western Union for which the remitter has to pay service charges. He further submitted that the terms of agreement cannot be disclosed as it is of commercial confidence in as much as Western Union has number of competitors in the market viz. Money Gram and Express Money etc. and disclosure of this information would compromise its competitive position. The Commission agreed with the PIO’s reply and the appeal was dismissed.

Comments

Organisation can protect disclosure of the commercial information using 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; which provides that information which would compromise the competitive position is not liable to be disclosed.

Citation: Shri V.S.Nathan v. Dept.of Posts in file no. CIC/LS/A/2011/002862