Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/PB/C/2008/00293-SM dated 01.02.2007
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated 06.03.2009
Complainant : Ms. Radha Verma
Respondent : Punjab National Bank
The Complainant is not present in spite of notice.
On behalf of the Respondent the following are present:-
(i) Shri K.N. Shukla, Chief Manager
(ii) Shri Sartaj Singh, Sr. Manager 9Law)
The brief facts of the case are as under.
2. The Complainant had filed an application for information before the district
authority on 1 February 2007. It is to be noted that the information sought was in respect
of her complaint against the Punjab National Bank for allegedly not opening a pension
account. Since she received no response, she once again filed a request before the
Appellate Authority within the district administration on 5 March 2007. The district
authority invited the Manager of the Punjab National Bank in its letter dated 17 March
2007. The CPIO of the Bank, in his letter dated 4 June 2007, informed the district
authority about the status of opening her account and responded with comments on each
point listed in her application for information. She has come before the Commission in a
complaint against the information provided to her.
3. During the hearing, the Complainant was not present in spite of notice. We heard
the submissions of the Respondent. The Respondent informed the Commission that, in
the meanwhile, the Complainant’s account had been opened in the relevant branch and
she had been operating that account since then. In this case, we note that the Complainant
had approached the district authority for information which did not relate to the district
administration but to the affairs of the Bank. While dealing with a number of cases
concerning the Punjab National Bank, we have noticed that this Bank has designated
officers in its Circle offices as CPIOs who have to service the right to information needs
of all the citizens interacting with the branches coming within the jurisdiction of the
Circle. This is a very unfriendly arrangement as far as the citizens’ right to information is
concerned. We would like to advise the authorities in the Punjab National Bank to ensure
that adequate number of CPIOs are designated at the branch level to handle requests of
citizens for information. This would help the citizens in accessing information closure to
their place of residence and would result in quicker dissemination of information.
4. As far as the present case is concerned, since the CPIO has already provided the
desired information, there is nothing more to be done by way of providing further relief
to the Complainant. Therefore, we dispose off the Complainant without any orders.
5. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
(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