Appellant sought CCTV footages of ATM of Dena bank of 16.03.2013 claiming that fraudulent withdrawal had been done from his account - CIC: CPIO directed to follow up with the Dena Bank for obtaining the CCTV footage & inform the outcome to appellant

Facts:

1. The appellant, Shri Arun, submitted RTI application dated 27 May 2013 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), State Bank of India, New Delhi; seeking information regarding daily progress report on his earlier complaint dated 13.4.2013 bearing complaint nos. AT42928176591 & AT42928654317 etc., through a total of 11 points. 2. Vide reply dated 27 June 2013, CPIO furnished all the information except on point no. 11 which he denied on the ground that the requested information did not come within the purview of ‘information’ as defined u/s 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act, 2005. Not satisfied with the CPIO’s reply, the appellant preferred an appeal dated 1 July 2013 to the first appellate authority (FAA) alleging that he had been provided incorrect and incomplete information by the CPIO concerned. No order has been passed by the FAA in this case.

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 had sought information about the action taken on his complaint over fraudulent ATM transactions carried out on 16 March 2013. The appellant submitted that on 16 March 2013 that he withdrew Rs.500/ through the ATM of Dena Bank. Subsequently, within ten minutes Rs. 8,000/ was taken out of his account fraudulently, without his knowledge. Accordingly, he had sought CCTV footages of the same. He stated that he had not received any SMS alert for the two transactions of Rs. 500/ and Rs. 8,000 even though he normally receives these alerts. The appellant insisted that he is only a student and the monetary loss suffered by him was tough on him.

5. The respondents submitted that they had contacted Dena Bank for obtaining the CCTV footage; however, they have not received any response till date. The last reminder was sent on 9 June 2013 through email. The respondents stated that the CCTV footage is generally kept for 90 days. However, sometime in late 2013 instructions have been received to preserve the CCTV footages in all disputed cases. Shri Kadam and Ms. Jain who represented the public authority offered to help the appellant in resolving his complaint and added that the appellant may file a fresh complaint clearly specifying the details of the incident to the Branch Manager, Himmatpuri Branch with a copy to the Shri T.R. Kadam, Chief Manager, DZO –I, 11 Parliament Street, New Delhi.

Decision Notice

6. The Commission directs the CPIO to follow up with the officials of the Dena Bank for obtaining the CCTV footage and inform the appellant of the outcome, within three weeks of the receipt of the order of the Commission. The Commission accepts the respondents’ submission that in rest of the points the information as held has been provided by them to the appellant. The appellant may approach the appropriate forum for redressal of his grievances, as suggested by the respondents too. The appeal is disposed of.

(Manjula Prasher)

Information Commissioner

Citation: Shri Arun v. State Bank of India in Appeal: No. CIC/VS/A/2013/001605/MP