Can particulars of officers who processed the loan be disclosed?

Background

The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Union Bank of India (UBI) seeking information pertaining to names of officers involved in giving loan facilities to two companies. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information.

Proceedings

The appellant as well as the respondent did not attend the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC).  The written submission from the respondent stated that they had sought the consent of the account holder under section 11(1) Where a Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose any information or record, or part thereof on a request made under this Act, which relates to or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by that third party, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall, within five days from the receipt of the request, give a written notice to such third party of the request and of the fact that the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose the information or record, or part thereof, and invite the third party to make a submission in writing or orally, regarding whether the information should be disclosed, and such submission of the third party shall be kept in view while taking a decision about disclosure of information: of the RTI Act, for disclosure of the information but the concerned party had not given consent for disclosure of information. The respondent also stated that the matter was under investigation by CBI and that the disclosure of information could impede investigation.

View of CIC

The Commission upheld the decision of respondent and rejected the appeal.

Citation: Mr. Sudhir Daswani v. Union Bank of India in File Decision No. CIC/SM/A/2012/000549/VS/03372