CIC: Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd is not a “public authority in terms of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act & does not come within the purview of the RTI Act; The appellant has a grievance which he may like to take up with the bank concerned
2 May, 2015ORDER
1. The appellant, Shri Ashok Kumar T. Dubey, submitted RTI application dated 30.06.2013 Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd. (CIBIL), Mumbai seeking information on three points –
(1) Certified copy of the Certificate, Rules and Regulations, Bye-laws of CIBIL in the name of Civil Consumer Credit Information;
(2) Certified copy of specially clarify adding and deleting norms of CIBIL; and
(3) Status and confirmation and the decision of his applications dated 1.4.2013 and 17.5.2013 addressed to the Banking Ombudsman.
2. Aggrieved with non receipt of information from the CPIO, CIBIL the appellant preferred first appeal on 24.08.2013 before the first appellate authority (FAA), Banking Ombudsman, Mumbai. The FAA had not passed any order on appellant’s first appeal.
3. Thereafter the appellant filed second appeal before the State Information Commission, Maharashtra. Since the matter related to the Central Government Department, the State Information Commission, Maharashtra vide their letter dated 3.10.2013 forwarded the instant appeal to the Central Information Commission.
4. The matter was heard by the Commission. The appellant stated that neither the CIBIL had responded to his RTI application nor the FAA, Banking Ombudsman passed any order on his first appeal. Shri Nand Kumar, Vice President (Legal), CIBIL stated that they are not the ‘public authority’ as defined under the provisions of Section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; of the RTI Act. The CIBIL had not received RTI application as well as second appeal from the appellant. They had received only copy of hearing notice. The Commission directed the respondents to file their written submissions within ten days.
5. In compliance with directions of the Commission, Shri L. Nandakumar, Vice President (Legal & Compliance), CIBIL vide his letter dated 28.01.2015 filed his written submissions. He stated that CIBIL is not a ‘public authority’ as defined in section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; of the RTI Act, 2005. CIBIL is a company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and majority (70%) of the shareholding in the capital is held by Trans Union LLC, a Delaware Limited liability company with its principal place of business at Chicago in USA. The ICICI Bank Ltd, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. and the Aditya Birla Trustee Company Pvt. Ltd. Further the CBIL also does not receive any funds (whether directly or indirectly) from the ‘appropriate Government’ as defined under the RTI Act.
5.1 CIBIL as Credit Information Company is engaged in the business of collating credit information of borrowers/customers of member credit institutions and providing credit reports to such banks/ financial institutions and other specified users as permitted under the Credit Information Companies (Regulations) Act, 2005 (CICR Act). Credit information is the credit history of previous and current borrowing(s)/credit(s) availed by both individual and entities like partnership firms, proprietary concerns, private and public limited companies etc. The information is applicable on all loan products, credit cards etc. The Credit Information Report (CIR) merely reflects the information submitted to the CIBIL by its member credit institutions (being banks and financial institutions) as required under the CICR Act, the Rules and the Regulations. The CIBIL issues the CIR in a standard format and it does not create information or provide inputs thereon of its own i.e. it only acts as a repository of credit information. Any rectification in the data base of credit information or change in the credit information can only be made in accordance with the provisions of the CICR Act. As per Section 21 of the CICR Act, the CIBIL has no unilateral right to carry out any correction, deletion or modification in the credit information of any person unless such correction etc. has been certified as correct by the concerned credit institution.
5.2 From the letter dated 1.4.2013 addressed by the appellant to the CIBIL and the letter dated 17.5.2013 addressed to the Banking Ombudsman, RBI, the principal grievance of the appellant appears to be with respect of certain loans availed by him and purportedly repaid by him but details whereof still appear in his CIR. There was no submission whatsoever as to whether the appellant had raised his grievances with the concerned banks/financial institutions. The CIBIL is taking up the grievances of the appellant with the concerned credit institutions and shall advise him accordingly.
6. Shri M. Nanda Kumar, CPIO, Banking Ombudsman, RBI vide letter date 29.01.2015 stated that the appellant had preferred an application dated 30.06.2013 to the PIO, CIBIL seeking certain information under RTI Act. The information sought included ‘certified copies of certificate, rules and regulations, bye-laws in the name of CIBIL Consumer Credit Information etc. The appellant then preferred first appeal on 24.08.2013 u/s 19(1) Any person who, does not receive a decision within the time specified in sub¬section (1) or clause (a) of sub-section (3) of section 7, or is aggrieved by a decision of the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, may within thirty days from the expiry of such period or from the receipt of such a decision prefer an appeal to such officer who is senior in rank to the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer as the case may be, in each public authority: Provided that such officer may admit the appeal after the expiry of the period of thirty days if he or she is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time. of the RTI Act alleging non-receipt of reply with respect to his application dated 30.6.2013 addressed to the PIO, CIBIL. Since the original application was not to the RBI, an appeal alleging non-receipt of reply from another entity, cannot lie to the RBI. The CIBIL may not be a ‘public authority’ under the RTI Act, but an appeal will not lie to the RBI against an application which was not made to it. He added that the appellant was free to make a fresh application under RTI Act, which will be considered in accordance with law.
7. Public Authority has been defined in clause (h) of section 2 of the RTI Act. Clause (h) is extracted below:
“(h) public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted—
(a) by or under the Constitution;
(b) by any other law made by Parliament;
(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;
(d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government,and includes any—
(i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
(ii) non-Government organisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;”
8. It is clear that CIBIL does not fall in sub clauses (a), (b), & (c) of clause (h) of Section 2 of the RTI Act. As per sub clause (d), to quality for public authority, an entity should be owned, controlled or substantially financed, directly or indirectly, by the Government. The CIBIL is a company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and the majority 70% of the shareholding in the capital of CIBIL is held by Trans Union LLC, a Delaware Limited with its principal place of business at Chicago in the U.S.A., The ICICI Bank Ltd., the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. and the Aditya Birla Trustee Company Pvt. Ltd. Further the CIBIL also does not receive any funds (whether directly or indirectly) from the Government as defined under the RTI Act. In view of above, the Commission holds that CIBIL is not a “public authority in terms of Section 2(h) “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes any- (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed; (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government; of the RTI Act and does not come within the purview of the RTI Act. The appellant has a grievance which he may like to take up with the bank concerned. The appeal is disposed of.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Ashok Kumar T. Dubey v. Credit Information Bureau (I) Ltd., in Appeal: No. CIC/MP/A/2014/000543