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2025 Supreme(Online)(CIC) 3757
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Anandi Ramalingam, IC
Satish Aggarwal – Appellant
Versus
State Bank of India, Bathinda, Punjab – Respondent
Second Appeal No. CIC/SBIND/A/2024/629411
For the Appellants/Petitioners:
For the Respondents: Mr. Pramod, Regional Manager on behalf of Mr. Rohit Kakkar, CPIO
A public authority is obligated to provide information under the RTI Act, unless exempted, ensuring compliance with transparency principles.
Headnote:{ "Statutory Provisions": "RTI Act, 2005, Section 8(1)(d) and Section 10.", "Facts": "The Appellant filed an RTI application seeking information regarding reimbursement of a medical bill and claimed that the Bank's response was incomplete.", "Findings": "The Commission found that the Bank appropriately responded to some points but failed to provide adequate information on the fourth point regarding rules and circulars related to the reimbursement.", "Issues": "The core issue is whether the Bank’s denial of information is justified under established policies.", "Ratio Decidendi": "The Commission directed the Bank to revise their response to the Appellant's query about rules related to reimbursement, emphasizing the importance of compliance with the RTI Act.", "Result": "The appeal is disposed of with directions to provide a revised reply regarding point no. 4 within 15 days of receipt of the order." }
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. the appellant's request for reimbursement details under rti. (Para 1 , 2 , 3) |
| 2. arguments presented by both appellant and respondent regarding information accessibility. (Para 4 , 6) |
| 3. the commission's direction for compliance with rti rules. (Para 7 , 8) |
Hon’ble Commissioner _ANANDI RAMALINGAM O R D E R
1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 02.05.2024 seeking information on the following points:
A medical bill of Rs. 500/- + Rs.17988/- for reimbursement was sent by me (PF Index *****9103) in year 2016 to Bhikhi branch.
Please provide me information as under:-
1. Please provide me information about amount paid in reimbursement.
2. Please provide me information about reason of less reimbursement of medical bill.
3. Please provide me detailed information of rules in which less reimbursement was passed.
4. Please provide me circulars of rules related to point 1, 2 and 3.
2. The CPIO replied vide letter dated 17.05.2024 and the same is reproduced as under :-
“1 to 3: The required information is beyond the record retention policy of the Bank. Hence the said record is not available and can’t be provided for information.
4. the information sought is exempted u/s 8(1)(d) of RTI Act, 2005 .”
3. Dissatisfied with the response received from the CPIO, the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 04.06.2024 alleging that the information provided was incomplete, false and misleading. The FAA vide order dated 12.06.2024 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 10.07.2024.
5. The appellant appeared through video conference and on behalf of the respondent Mr. Pramod, Regional Manager on behalf of Mr. Rohit Kakkar, CPIO attended the hearing through video conference.
6. The appellant inter alia submitted that he sought information on amount paid in reimbursement, reasons for less reimbursement w.r.t medical bill of 2016 etc. and the respondent denied the same under the ground that the sought information is beyond their record retention policy. The appellant further submitted that there will be register for maintaining medical documents.
7. The respondent while defending their case inter alia submitted that the information sought by the appellant pertains to 2016 and the same is beyond their record retention policy.
Upon this the Commission directed the respondent to upload their record retention policy on the Commission’s link given in hearing notice and relevant portion of the record retention policy filed by the respondent is reproduced below:
Sl. No.
Title of the Record
Retained as per Bank’s instruction
Place of storage in case of Physical Records
Proposed Retention Period (Existing if Modified)
Remarks
162
OTHER ACTIVITIES: CORRESPONDEN CE (HR-Related) i. Scholarships ii. Holiday Homes iii. LFC Bills iv. TA Bills V. Medical Bills vi.Conveyance Allowance Bills etc vii. Pay Sheets viii.Overtime Statements
Hard/Soft Copy
Branch/CP C/RBO/AO/ LHO/CC
5 years for closed files or till completion of the next audit by the RBI and Management Audit whichever is later.
No Change
8. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both parties and perusal of records, observes that the respondent gave an appropriate reply to the appellant w.r.t point no.1 to 3 as per their data retention policy but has not provided an appropriate reply to the appellant w.r.t point no. 4. Therefore, the Respondent is directed to give a revised reply w.r.t point no.4 to the appellant after redacting any personal information pertaining to third-party and any commercially sensitive information in consonance with Section 10 of the RTI Act within 15 days of receipt of this order under intimation to the Commission. Accordingly, the appeal is disposed of.
Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
