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Decision No. CIC /AT/A/2008/00826/SG/0362Adjunct
Appeal No. CIC/ AT/A/2008/00826/
Relevant Facts
emerging from the Appeal
Appellant : Mr. Harpal Singh
S/o Shri Amolak Singh,
B-4/283-C, Lawrence Road,
New Delhi- 110 035
Respondent 1 : Mr. A.K.Sharma
Asstt. Registrar (Banking) & SPIO ,
GNCT of Delhi, Parliament Street,
Old Courts Buildings,
New Delhi – 110001
RTI filed on : 24/03/2008
PIO replied : 22/04/2008
First appeal filed on : 27/05/2008
First Appellate Authority order : 23/06/2008
Second Appeal filed on : 30/06/2008
The Appellant had sought information regarding Arbitration Order passed by Shri G.S. Meena in
respect of Ramgarhia Cooperative Bank Ltd.
Information Sought:
a- Certified copy of the Arbitration Order in case no. 1942/2000-2001 passed by Shri
G.S. Meena.
b- Certified Copy of he Claim along with annexure filed by the Claimant Bank
(Ramgarhia Co-operative Bank Ltd.)
The PIO’s Reply: On 22.04.08 PIO forwarded the application to Manager, Ramgarhia Co-
operative Bank ltd., D.B.Guta Road, Paharganj, New Delhi seeking replies and Manager replies
that: “The party was sanctioned a term loan of Rs. 12,000/- on 06/01/1994. The case was filed in
Registrar Co-operative Societies Office on 05/07/2000. The Arbitrator was appointed for dealing
the case for deciding the case. However till yet the fate of this case is unknown to us as we have
no information about the Award etc. neither from the Arbitrator nor from Registrar Co-operative
Societies office.”
Not satisfied with the reply received from PIO the appellant filed first appeal:
The First Appellate Authority ordered:
The First Appellate Authority ordered on 23/06/2008 that: “This order will dispose of the
appeal filed by Mr. Harpal Singh Chawla, appellant in respect of his application ID No.
4138/RTI u/s 19 of the Right To Information Act,2005. During the proceeding held on
18.06.2008 Shri Harjinder Singh, Advocate on behalf of Shri Harpal Singh Chawla, Appellant,
Shri K.P. Singh, CEO of Bank, Shr. H.S.Meena, SPIO and Shri Ajay Kumar Sharma, Assistant
Registrar (Arbitration) were present.
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Assistant Registrar (Arbitration) produced the register wherein it has been indicated that
arbitration case titled ‘Ramgarhia Cooperative Bank Ltd. Vs. Harpal Singh Chawla instituted
vide no. AR/Arb.1942/2000-2001 was not received as indicated as ‘N.R.’ in arbitration case
received back register. Apparently the case file is not traceable in the branch. As such the copies
of the arbitration order and the claim cannot be made available to the appellant as the same is not
available in the record. The appeal is disposed off accordingly”
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing held on 01/12/2008:
The following were present
Appellant : Mr. Harpal Singh
Respondent : Absent
The appellant had a dispute with the bank in 2001 and the matter was referred to an arbitrator
Mr. G.S. Meena. The arbitration was over but the award of the arbitrator was never given to the
appellant. The appellant has sought a copy of this award from the bank. The appellate authority
has stated that the file is not traceable. This cannot be accepted.
Either the Public authority must state that no arbitration award was received, or provide it.
No file can be ‘untraceable’ for over a week at the most.
Decision dated 01/12/2008:
The appeal was allowed. The PIO was directed to give the information about the arbitration
award to the appellant before 20 December, 2008. The Commission directed the PIO to either
provide a copy of the arbitration award or a categorical statement that the arbitration award has
never been received.
Facts leading to Adjunct decision:
As no information had been provided to the Appellant in compliance with the
Commission’s order, a show cause hearing was held in this matter on 30/09/2009 wherein the
PIO from the RCS (Bkg.) stated that the arbitration award and the relevant file had not been
received from the Arbitrator. The Appellant claimed that the Arbitrator had informed them that
he has given the Arbitration award and the file to the RCS.
The Commission vide letter dated 01/10/2009 sought assistance from Mr. G.S. Meena
who had been appointed as the arbitrator in the matter and he was requested to assist the
Commission by giving a statement before 25/10/2009 explaining his position on this case-
whether he had returned the relevant file to the RCS or not and whether he had passed an award
in Ramgarhia Cooperative Bank Ltd v. Harpal Singh, AR/Arb. 1942/200-2001.
The Commission has received a letter dated 24/11/2009 from Mr. G.S. Meena, Deputy
Commissioner (West), MCD stating that ‘so far as my memory goes, after receipt of the case file
from RCS office for arbitration purposes, I had examined the matter and had returned the file to
RCS office with the request to clarify certain issues therein and thereafter the file was not
received from RCS office’.
Adjunct decision announced on 01/01/2010:
Based on the statement received from Mr. G.S. Meena, it appears that the file had been
returned to the RCS office. On the other hand, the PIO, RCS had made a statement that the file
has not been received. This means the file has been either stolen or lost. The Commission
therefore directs the PIO, RCS to file a police complaint with regard to the theft/loss of the case
file. A copy of this Police Complaint will be sent to the Appellant and the Commission before 22
January 2010. A certificate from the Registrar Co-operative Societies about the theft/loss of the
file will also be provided to the Appellant and the Commission before 22 January 2010.
Shailesh Gandhi
Information Commissioner
01 January 2010
(In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number)
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