Details of computers purchased by the SBI for a particular period along with their configuration was sought - Respondent: tenders were executed at the 380 branches separately; collecting such information would disproportionately divert their resource

ORDER

1. The appellant submitted RTI application dated October 17, 2013 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), State Bank of India, New Delhi; seeking information regarding details of SBI Branches which closes after 5 pm; details of bank officials who had travelled to foreign countries on private insurance companies’ fund etc.; through a total of 4 points.

2. Vide reply dated November 19, 2013; the CPIO provided information on point A; informed on point B & C that information sought was related to private insurance companies therefore it should be sought from them only and denied the information on point D u/s 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; 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; of the RTI Act, 2005. Dissatisfied with the CPIO’s reply, the appellant preferred an appeal dated November 25, 2013 to the first appellate authority (FAA) stating that reply was not provided within the stipulated time period. No order was passed by the FAA in this case.

3. Dissatisfied with the response of the public authority, the appellant preferred second appeal before the Commission.

4. The matter was heard by the Commission. The appellant was not present during the hearing in spite of a notice having been sent to him. The respondent submitted that the appellant had only contested their reply on point no. D which they had denied u/s 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; 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; of the RTI Act, 2005 in which the appellant had sought information regarding the details of computers purchased by the SBI for the period between 1.4.2011 to 30.09.2013 along with the configuration details of the said computers. He stated that they have a total of 380 branches of SBI in Rajasthan and tenders for purchasing computers were executed on the branch level itself, therefore collecting such a large scale information scattered in such a large area was indeed very difficult and it would disproportionately divert their human resource, therefore it should be exempt from disclosure u/s 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. of the RTI Act, 2005.

5. The Commission accepts the submissions made by the respondent w.r.t. point 4; however keeping in view the objective of enactment of RTI Act, 2005, the Commission directs the respondent to provide the information sought in point 4 w.r.t. one branch of SBI for the last financial year to the appellant within 7 days of the receipt of the order of the Commission. The appeal is dispose of.

(Manjula Prasher)

Information Commissioner

Citation: Shri Shyam Singh Salwi v. State Bank of India in Appeal No. CIC/MP/A/2014/001189