O R D E R

(16.08.2021)

1. The issues under consideration arising out of the second appeal dated 10.04.2019 include non-receipt of the following information raised by the appellant through his RTI application dated 01.02.2019 and first appeal dated 11.03.2019:-

(i) Current account in the name of A/c No. *******1069 “Pritam Apartment Owners Association” is opened in your branch. Please let me know the documents received by you to open this account and also please give me the statement of this account from the day of opening till 31.01.2019, as this is a association a/c.

2. Succinctly facts of the case are that the appellant filed an application dated 01.02.2019 under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), State Bank of India, Nagpur, seeking aforesaid information. The CPIO vide letter dated 22.02.2019 replied to the appellant. Dissatisfied with that, the appellant filed first appeal dated 11.03.2019. The First Appellate Authority vide order dated 22.03.2019 disposed of the first appeal. Aggrieved by that, the appellant filed a second appeal dated 10.04.2019 before this Commission which is under consideration. 3. The appellant has filed the instant appeal dated 10.04.2019 inter alia on the grounds that reply given by the CPIO was not satisfactory and that the account of Pritam Apartment Owners Association was opened in violation of KYC norms and RBI guidelines. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide the complete information and take necessary action as per Section 20 (1) of the RTI Act.

4. The CPIO vide letter dated 22.02.2019 denied the information stating that information sought as the appellant did not produce any authority letter or did not mention his relationship with the Association. The FAA while concurring with the views taken by the CPIO vide his order dated 22.03.2019 invoked exemption under section 8 (1) (e) of the RTI Act.

5. The appellant’s representative Shri Sandeep Singh and on behalf of the respondent Shri Pankaj Kumar, Regional Manager & CPIO, State Bank of India, Nagpur attended the hearing through video conference.

5.1. The appellant inter alia submitted that he was one of the flat owners in Pritam Apartments (Flat No. 307), Teka Nakka, Kamptee Road, Nagpur. The appellant further alleged that few of the flat owners had formed an Association “Pritam Apartment Owners’ Association” without the permission of the Charity Commissioner and opened an account with the respondent bank. Therefore, the Association being unregistered and illegal, he had sought the information regarding the account of the Association. However, the respondent had refused to share the information with an ulterior motive to protect the members of that Association.

5.2. The respondent while defending their case and endorsing the CPIO’s reply dated 22.02.2019 and FAA’s order dated 22.03.2019 inter alia submitted that the information regarding the account of Pritam Apartment Owners’ Association was held by them in fiduciary capacity. Therefore, the information was exempted under section 8 (1) (e) of the RTI Act.

6. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both the parties and perusal of records, observed that due reply was given by the CPIO on 22.02.2019 and by the FAA on 22.03.2019. Perusal of records revealed that the appellant claimed that the Association was formed without registrations and that the details of the account be disclosed to him in the capacity of a flat owner. However, the appellant did not produce any authority letter on behalf of the Association. Besides, the Association being a customer of the bank, their account related information was held by the bank in fiduciary capacity. Therefore, the stand taken by the respondent was sustainable in the eyes of law. That being so, there appears to be no public interest in further prolonging the matter. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.

Copy of the decision be pr