Information regarding World bank loan taken by RBI & its approval from CAG, CVC, CBI was sought - PIO: information sought is not maintained by RBI; application transferred to MoF - CIC: appeal dismissed as information is not held by the public authority
30 Apr, 2014ORDER
Facts:
1. The appellant, Mr. Omprakash Kashiram, has submitted the RTI application dated 26 December 2012 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai; seeking information regarding the World bank loan taken by RBI and its approval from CAG, CVC,CBI through a total of 4 points.
2. Vide letter dated 31 December 2012, the CPIO transferred the RTI application to the CPIO, Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs, New Delhi under section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005. On not receiving any reply from the CPIO concerned, the appellant preferred appeal dated 03 January 2013 to the First Appellate Authority (FAA), RBI, Mumbai. No first appeal has been filed before the FAA of the Department of Economic Affairs to whom the RTI application has been transferred by the RBI. No order of FAA has been received.
3. Being aggrieved on not receiving any response from the public authority, the appellant preferred second appeal before the Commission.
4. The matter was heard today via videoconferencing. The appellant, Shri Omprakash Kashiram, was not present at the hearing as he had already mentioned in his second appeal that he or his authorized person would not like to appear at the hearing. The respondents, Ms. Jonaki Sain, CPIO / Deputy Legal Advisor and Ms. Shakti Dubey made submissions from Mumbai.
5. The CPIO submitted that the information sought w.r.t. the World Bank loan taken by the RBI is not maintained by the public authority. However, the information may be available with the Ministry of Finance and thus, the RTI application has been transferred to the said Ministry. The appellant has been informed regarding the same vide letter dated 31.12.2012. A copy of the forwarding letter would be submitted to the CIC within 7 days.
Decision Notice
6. The information sought by the appellant is not held with the public authority and hence, may not be provided under the RTI Act. The present appeal is dismissed. The case is closed.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Mr. Omprakash Kashiram v. Reserve Bank of India in Appeal: No. CIC/VS/A/2013/000562/MP