Central Information Commission
File No.CIC/SM/A/2010/000663, 666, 715, 814 & 910
Right to Information Act2005Under Section (19)
Dated: 20 October 2010
Name of the Appellant : Shri T.C. Aggarwal,
Chief Manager,
Punjab National Bank,
Link Cell, Kingsway, Nagpur.
Name of the Public Authority : CPIO, Punjab National Bank,
Circle Office, Sector 17B,
Inspection Department,
Chandigarh.
The Appellant was not present in spite of notice.
On behalf of the Respondent, the following were present:
(i) Shri N.K. Adlakha, Chief Manager,
(ii) Shri Sartaj Singh, Senior Manager (Law),
(iii) Shri B. Taneja,
(iv) Shri Swaroop Singh,
(v) Shri R.S. Singh
2. We took up these five cases together for hearing through
videoconferencing. The Appellant was not present. Although he had requested
in writing to adjourn these cases beyond Diwali, we did not accede to his
request as it is not the general practice to adjourn cases on such grounds as
transfer of an employee from one station to another. The Respondents were
present in our chamber as well as in the NIC Studios at Ludhiana and
Chandigarh. We heard their submissions.
3. In five separate applications, the Appellant had sought more than 100
items of information regarding a variety of issues. The CPIO had, in each case,
provided him with a large number of information against most of his queries
although against some queries the information was not provided either by
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claiming exemption under some provision or the other of the Right to
Information (RTI) Act or on the ground that the information was not available.
In his second appeals filed before the CIC, the Appellant has not specifically
spelt out why he finds any of the information provided to him as inadequate or
incorrect. Instead, he has generally alleged large scale bungling and corruption
in the functioning of the Bank in general and some of its superior officers in
particular.
4. We carefully perused the contents of the RTI applications in all these
cases and the reply given by the CPIO. We do not find any particular
inadequacy or shortcoming in the response of the CPIO in any of these cases
except that the CPIO has not explained how the certain items of information
denied by him would be covered under the exemption provision cited by him.
For example, the Appellant had sought details of the Annual Maintenance
Contracts (AMC) entered into by the Bank during a certain period. This
information has been denied by citing the exemption provisions of Section 8(1)
(d) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Claiming AMC contracts to be in the
nature of commercial confidence is not justifiable at all. The AMC is like any
other contract and the citizens have a right to know to whom such contracts
have been awarded and for what consideration. Even if it is agreed that the
Appellant has not sought this information very specifically and had only sought
the details without explaining what he means by ‘details’, the CPIO should have
provided the list of AMCs awarded during that period along with the exact
consideration in each case and for what activity.
5. In the backdrop of the above, we would like the CPIOs in all these cases
to provide the available information against those items where the information
had been denied by invoking the various exemption provisions. If the CPIO
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decides not to provide the information in some of these instances, he must pass
a speaking order stating how exactly the desired information would be covered
by the said exemption provisions. We direct the CPIOs to comply with this
direction within 15 working days from the receipt of this order.
6. With the above directions, all the fives are disposed off.
7. 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/SM/A/2010/000663, 666, 715, 814 & 910