A RTI application not bearing the name of the applicant should not be entertained

Background

The appellant filed the application in the name of some company without disclosing his own name and address. He sought the details regarding some banking transactions made between two different parties. The Public Information Officer (PIO) refused to provide information stating that the matter was before some court of law.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) held that under the RTI Act, only a citizen can seek information from any public authority. Any RTI application which does not have the name of the information seeker should not be entertained. The Commission rejected the appeal 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; stating that the sought information was related to the commercial confidence.

Citation: Bakshi Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., v. Punjab National Bank in File No. CIC/SM/A/2011/000780