Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/PB/A/2008/01242-SM dated 07-05-2008
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated: 14 September 2009
Name of the Appellant : Shri Sujoy Kumar Ghosh
131/3/2, Becharam Chatterjee Road,
Behala, Kolkata- 700 034.
Name of the Public Authority : CPIO, State Bank of India,
Corporate Central Office, 4th Floor,
State Bank Bhawan,
Madame Cama Road, Mumbai.
The Appellant was present in person.
On behalf of the Respondent, Shri Ajit, Law Officer, was present.
The brief facts of the case are as under.
2. The Appellant had, in his application dated May 7, 2008, requested
the CPIO for a number of information regarding the total number of
pensioners during a particular period and out of those, the number of family
pensioners still alive and getting family pension as on March 31, 2008. The
CPIO replied on July 9, 2008 and provided some numerical details about the
pensioners, but did not provide any information on the number of family
pensioners live as desired by the Appellant claiming that such information
was not available and collection of such data from across the country would
disproportionately divert the resources of the Public Authority and,
therefore, he was not in a position to provide that information as per
Section 7(9) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Appellant moved the
first Appellate Authority against this order on July 21, 2008. The Appellate
Authority disposed off the appeal in his order dated July 29, 2008 by
concurring in the decision of the CPIO in not providing any information for
some of the queries. The Appellant has now challenged that order in the
second appeal.
3. During the hearing of the case through videoconferencing, the
Appellant was present in the Kolkata studio of the NIC whereas the
Respondent was present in the Mumbai studio. We heard their submissions.
CIC/PB/A/2008/01242-SM
The Respondent submitted that details about the number of family
pensioners alive on any particular day would not be available centrally since
such data was not being collected on a regular basis. He further submitted
that collection of such data from all across the thousands of their Branches
from across the country would be a very time-consuming exercise. The
Appellant wants to know specifically about those family pensioners who
were alive as on March 31, 2008 out of the nearly 27,000 odd such
pensioners. We tend to agree with the CPIO that unless such information is
being maintained centrally on a regular basis, collecting the information for
such a large number of pensioners to determine in how many cases family
pension was being drawn and how many of those family pensioners were no
longer alive would be a Herculean task. Under the Right to Information (RTI)
Act, the information is to be provided based on what is held by the Public
Authority. What the Appellant has sought can be produced through research
since such information is not held by the Bank in a ready-made fashion. We
are afraid we cannot compel the CPIO to produce this information.
4. Nevertheless, we direct the CPIO to find out afresh if the desired
information is available with any of the authorities within the Bank and if so
available, to provide the same to the Appellant within 15 working days from
the receipt of this order. If he fails to find the information, he shall inform
the Appellant categorically stating that this is not being held centrally in
any of the offices of the State Bank of India.
5. With the above direction, the appeal is disposed off.
6. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied
against application and payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the
CPIO of this Commission.
(Vijay Bhalla)
Assistant Registrar
CIC/PB/A/2008/01242-SM