ORDER

(18.02.2021)

1. The issues under consideration arising out of the second appeal dated 08.05.2018 include non-receipt of the following information raised by the appellant through his RTI application dated 20.02.2018 and first appeal dated 02.04.2018:-

Correspondence with M/s Narmada Cotton Overseas, Pvt. Ltd., inward & outward for the period since possession of the bank till today with company & any of the director’s. (i) Internal communication regarding the final one time settlement proposal of 2016.

(ii) List of land & building, plant & machinery taken in possession under SARFAESI Act 2002 & inventory list along with “Panchanama” given on 2nd December 2002 at time of possession.

(iii) All valuation reports of plant & machinery, land, building & others form date of possession up till today.

(iv) Copy of all title documents kept under your possession as mortgage for various bank limits in account of M/s Narmada Cotton Overseas, Pvt. Ltd., (v) Board resolution received by bank in regard to property title documents release as per your letter dated 20.08.2016.

(vi) Correspondence with Sales tax department in last 5 years.

(vii) Record regarding the share holding in the company Narmada Cotton Overseas, Pvt. Ltd.

2. Succinctly facts of the case are that the appellant filed an application dated 20.02.2018 under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Bank of India, Zonal Office, Indore, seeking aforesaid information. The CPIO vide letter dated 22.03.2018 replied to the appellant. Dissatisfied with this, the appellant filed the first appeal dated 02.04.2018. The First Appellate Authority vide order dated 24.04.2018 disposed of the first appeal. Aggrieved by this, the appellant filed a second appeal dated 08.05.2018 before this Commission which is under consideration.

3. The appellant has filed the instant appeal dated 08.05.2018inter alia on the grounds that reply given by the CPIO was not satisfactory. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide complete information and take necessary action as per Section 20 (1) of the RTI Act.

4. The CPIO vide letter dated 22.03.02018 deniedunder clauses (d), (e) & (j) of sub- section (1) of section 8 of the RTI Act. The FAA vide order dated 24.04.2018 agreed with the views take by the CPIO.

Hearing on 30.06.2020

4.1. The appellant and on behalf of the respondent, Shri B. V.Chawra, Deputy General Manager and CPIO, Bank of India, Indore, attended the hearing through audio conference.

Interim order dated 04.08.2020

4.2. The Commission has passed the following observations/directions on 04.08.2020:

“6. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both the parties and perusal of records, notes that the reply given by the respondent is evasive and misleading. It is also noted that information sought has not been furnished even after a lapse of around more than two years from the date of filing of this RTI application. Further, the CPIO who represented the bank was not aware of the facts of the case properly and thus failed to respond to the queries raised by the Commission during the hearing. In view of this, the Registry of this Bench is directed to issue show cause notice to Shri S.K. Basa, the then CPIO and Shri B. V. Chawra, the present CPIO for explaining as to why action under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act should not be initiated against each of them for not proving reply/information to the appellant.The present CPIO Shri B. V. Chawra, is given responsibility to serve a copy of this order as well as show-cause notice to the then CPIO Shri S.K. Basa and secure his written explanations. All the written explanations (from both the CPIOs) must reach this Commission within three weeks days. In the mean-time, the respondent is directed to provide a suitable reply/information to the appellant as per the provisions of the RTI Act, within four weeks from the date of receipt of this order.”

Hearing