Information regarding the establishment of Indian Banking Association - PIO: IBA has not been established by the Public Authority & no document regarding the same are available with it; appellant may approach the IBA directly - CIC: order upheld

Facts:

1. The appellant Dr. Netrapal Shastry has submitted RTI application dated 03 October 2012 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Department of Economic Affairs (Banking Division), New Delhi; seeking information relating to the formation/enforcement of the Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) through total of 04 points.

2. Vide CPIO order dated 31 October 2012, CPIO denied the information sought on the ground that the information which has been asked by the appellant is not specific and also these are related to IBA, therefore the appellant can seek the information from the IBA. Not satisfied by the CPIO’s reply, the appellant preferred appeal dated 7.11.2012 to the First Appellate Authority (FAA) alleging that the IBA vide letter dated 28 March 2012 has clarified that they do not come under the definition of public authority defined under 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; of the RTI Act, 2005. However, as the IBA is an association of banking industries and banking industries comes under Ministry of Finance, therefore he should be provided the information sought in his RTI application. Vide FAA order dated 19 December 2012, the FAA directed the CPIO to again inquire the matter and furnish the specific reply.

3. Being aggrieved and not satisfied by the above response of the public authority, the appellant preferred second appeal before the Commission.

4. The matter was heard today via videoconferencing. The appellant Dr. Netrapal Shastri was present and made submissions from Mathura. The respondent Shri Manish Kumar, Under Secretary was present at the hearing in person and made submissions.

5. The appellant in his submission said that he had sought information regarding the establishment of Indian Banking Association under the guidance/control of Ministry of Finance through five points. However, no information was provided to him till date. He also added that his rights under Article 309 of the Constitution of India would be violated if the disclosure of information is not allowed.

6. The CPIO submitted that pursuant to the order of the FAA, the appellant was informed vide letter dated 4 January 2013 that Indian Banking Association has not been established by the Public Authority and no document regarding the same are available with the Public Authority, hence no information can be provided w.r.t points 15 of the RTI application. It was also submitted that Indian Banking Association is a voluntary organization and the public authority has been doing occasional correspondence with the Association but as a separate entity.

7. The respondents further submitted that the appellant may approach the concerned organization concerned to seek information.

Decision Notice

9. The Commission is satisfied with the reply of the CPIO as the information sought is not available with the Public Authority in the present case.

10. Hence the present appeal is dismissed. Case is closed.

(Manjula Prasher)

Information Commissioner

Citation: Dr. Netrapal Shastry v. DoFS in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2013/000247/MP