Mr. Kirtikumar Dhirajlal Mehta vs State Bank Of Saurashtra on 8 July, 2008

              CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
              B-Wing, 2nd Floor, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066


                                                                        Appeal No.2382/ICPB/2008
                                                                                F.No.PBA/07/1450
                                                                                      July 8, 2008

                In the matter of Right to Information Act, 2005 - Section 19
                            [Hearing on 24.6.2008 at 1.00 p.m.]

Appellant :            Mr. Kirtikumar Dhirajlal Mehta
Public authority:      State Bank of Saurashtra
                       Mr. J.H. Parekh, AGM & CPIO
                       Mr. Jai Mahajan, DGM & Appellate Authority
Present:               For Respondents:
                       Mr. Jai Mahajan, DGM
                       Mr. S.K. Nayak, Dy. Manager (Law)
                       Appellant not present.
FACTS

:

The appellant has sought information under RTI Act by his letter dated 3.4.2007
addressed to the PIO, State Bank of Saurashtra requesting information pertaining to the
fraud that has taken place in the staff housing loan scam. The appellant has indicated in
his application he is one of the victims and he was placed under suspension and he is
facing both the disciplinary case and the CBI case. He has requested information against
various paras as listed in his application. The PIO has given some reply vide letter dated
30.4.2007 by which he has taken a stand the information he has requested cannot be
given under section 8(1)(d), (e) & (j) of the RTI Act. The appellant preferred his appeal
vide letter dated 16.05.2007 and the AA has given his decision on 17.5.2007 by which he
has agreed with the stand taken by the CPIO. This has resulted in filing of second appeal
before the Commission which was received on 20.12.2007. Comments were called for
vide letter dated 20.02.2008 which was received from the Bank on 5.5.2008. The
appellant has also filed his rejoinder.

DECISION:

2. This case was taken up for hearing on 24.6.2008, which was attended by the
DGM-cum-AA in person along with Manager (Law). I have gone through the RTI
application as well as replies received in this connection. In the application, the appellant
is requesting information pertaining to various other individuals against whom action has
been initiated or investigation has been conducted and punishment given by the bank.
The appellant is not entitled for this information since it is pertaining to third parties and
this information has been denied rightly under section 8(1)(d) and (j) of the RTI Act.
Likewise the appellant is also requesting information regarding the establishment
particulars of the Bank from the years 1990 to 2006 under various heads which will

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definitely be voluminous information which will divert the resources of the Bank since it
has to be collected from various quarters and provided to the appellant.

3. However, regarding the information pertaining to the Bank has been placed on
website as per the requirements of section 4 of the RTI Act. The appellant is requested to
go through the website and if he is not getting the requisite information in the website he
can take up the matter with the CPIO and the CPIO will do the needful since website
information requires updating every now and then. As far as this application concerned,
since he is the affected party and he is still under suspension and he is also facing two
disciplinary cases he can request for any information pertaining to his own case since
investigation is completed charge sheet has already been served. In case if he requests
any information pertaining to his own case the CPIO will be directed to provide the
information as available with them. In case if it is not available with them it should be
obtained from CBI and provided to the appellant. However care has to taken to see that
the information disclosed does not fall under the category of exempted provisions of
section 8(1) of RTI Act. As far as this application is concerned, the appellant is not
entitled for any information and I, therefore, dismiss the appeal.

Let a copy of this decision be sent to the appellant and CPIO.

Sd/-

(Padma Balasubramanian)
Central Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy :

(Prem Singh Sagar)
Under Secretary & Assistant Registrar

Address of parties :

1. Mr. J.H. Parekh, AGM & CPIO, State Bank of Saurashtra, Zonal Office,
Darbargadh, Bhavnagar-364001 (Gujrat)

2. Mr. Jai Mahajan, DGM & Appellate Authority, State Bank of Saurashtra, Zonal
Office, Darbargadh, Bhavnagar-364001 (Gujrat)

3. Mr. Kirtikumar Dhirajlal Mehta, Plot No. 10 A/3, Ravi Ajaywadi, Airport Road,
Subhash Nagar, Bhavnagar-364002 (Gujrat)

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