के(cid:219)(cid:289)(cid:547)य सूचना आयोग Central Information Commission बाबा गंगनाथ माग, (cid:91) म(cid:467)ु नरका

Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka नई (cid:465)द(cid:227)ल(cid:547), New Delhi – 110067 (cid:622)(cid:874)वतीय अपील स(cid:201)ं या / Second Appeal No. CIC/CBIND/A/2024/620783 Dinesh Grover … /Appellant अपीलकता(cid:91) VERSUS बनाम CPIO: Central Bank, Ludhiana … /Respondents (cid:292)(cid:467)तवाद(cid:547)गण Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:

Hon’ble Commissioner _ANANDI RAMALINGAM O R D E R

1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 11.01.2024 seeking information on the following points:

 I am attaching loan sanction letter no RO/LUDH/ADV/2018_19/365 dated

23/10/2018 against which loan account no. is ******5887 (Sarabha Nagar Ludhiana) and was sanctioned loan for my sons education

1. A) please confirm that above loan sanction letter has been issued by your bank for providing educational loan for my sons (Yashasvi Grover} study.

B) please confirm that bank is bound by terms & conditions of loan offer letter.

2. Please confirm that as per condition no 1 of loan offer letter, bank has agreed for 1% interest concession, if interest is served during study period and moratorim period and bank has to abide by the condition.

3. A} if reply to question no 2 is yes (i am eligible for 1% concession). I am attaching loan account statement which is showing my payment of interest during loan period and repayment has started on my loan account. Please share amount of concession.

B} if bank will not abide by condition no 1 of above letter, please share guidelines of bank & rbi for action against officials who misled/misold loan product to me or any other customer.

2. The CPIO replied vide letter dated 31.01.2024 and the same is reproduced as under :-

1. Information as asked on point no 1 & 2 in your application under Right to Information Act 2005, is in the form to "Confirm" certain fact which does not come in the definition of "Information" as given in section 2 (F) of Right to Information Act 2005.

2. For information of concession in above loan a/c, kindly go through our Master Circular no 2018-19/12 in the matter already provided to you vide our above letter dated 13/12/2023.

3. For information as asked on point no 3 (B) in your application under Right to Information Act 2005, we could not find any record of erring officials in the matter. For your any grievance in the matter, you may contract "Banking Ombudsman" at Sector 17, Chandigarh.

3. Dissatisfied with the response received from the CPIO, the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 22.02.2024 alleging that the information provided was incomplete, false and misleading. The FAA vide order dated 27.03.2024 upheld the reply given by the CPIO.

4. Aggrieved with the FAA’s order, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal dated Nil.

5. The appellant and on behalf of the respondent Ashok Sharma, Regional Head, attended the hearing through video conference.

6. The appellant inter alia submitted that the CPIO had considered his queries as questions instead of providing the requisite information. Further, the appellant has stated that the reply given by the CPIO was false, vague and incorrect.

7. The respondent while defending their case inter alia submitted that the appellant has requested for confirmation of certain facts in the guise of RTI request and the same is not squarely covered within the definition of “information” under Section 2 (f) of the RTI Act.

8. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both parties and perusal of records, observes that appropriate reply has been given by the CPIO, as per provisions of the RTI Act. It is noted that the appellant has not sought any material information in his RTI application and confirmation/interpretation of facts does not