Disclosure of information related to issuance of currency coins by RBI

Background

The appellant sought various details of the currency coins issued by the RBI to one of the SBI branch from year 2005 till date. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided partial information to the appellant and denied the rest claiming exemption under 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; of the RTI Act, 2005.

View of CIC

The respondents submitted that the currencies in the change form are issued to the Individuals and as such no records are maintained by the particular branch of the Public Authority as there are nearly 1200 branches in the city. The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the PIO to provide the total value/ consolidated amount of the coins disbursed to the particular branch of SBI since the year 2005. Further, the Commission accepted that information pertaining to correspondence between RBI and SBI cannot be provided as it is maintained in the fiduciary capacity by the Public Authority.

Citation: Shri Vishnu Prasad Goyal v. SBI in File No. CIC/DS/A/2011/000850