CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building, Old JNU Campus,
Opp. Ber Sarai Market, New Delhi - 110067.
Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2009/001531/4375
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2009/001531
Relevant Facts
emerging from the Appeal:
Appellant : Mr. Tarsem Kumar Kaushish
701, Savera Apts. Plot No. 5,
Sector 13, Rohini, Delhi - 110085
Respondent : Mr. L.R. Garg
General Manager & SPIO
Delhi Co-Operative Housing Finance
Corporation Ltd.
3/6, Siri Fort Institutional Area,
August Kranti Marg, New Delhi 110049.
RTI application filed on : 09/02/2009
PIO replied : 09/03/2009
First appeal filed on : 20/03/2009
First Appellate Authority order : 13/04/2009
Second Appeal received on : 08/06/2009
Information sought:
Appellant had sought information from DCHFC regarding the loan account of IVT
cooperative group housing Society Ltd. Plot no. 5, Sector-13, Rohini Delhi 110085 for the period
upto 31/01/2009.
Regd. No. 285(GH) Dt. 11/12/1979
1. Please furnish the amount of loan disbursed to the society datewise. In this respect please
also give
a. Copies of letters of IVT cooperative group housing society Ltd.
b. List of persons in whose favour the society had requested for these disbursals.
c. Whether any sort of appraisal is conducted by the DCHFC on the persons for whom the
society asked for disbursement of loan before the amount is disbursed to the society. If
yes please give details/copies.
d. Please give the copies of agreements entered into with the society & the individual
applicants before disbursement of loan.
2. Please furnish the amount of loan recovered from the society datewise. In this respect
please also give.
a. The complete & up to date statement of account.
b. The amount deposited by the society date wise
c. The amount deposited by the individual members date wise with details of the member
d. The rate of interests charged in the account from time to time
e. Details of debits in the account other than interest such as insurance/legal/etc. & whether
the same were recovered separately from the installments as & when debited or not.
f. Details of the borrowers insured every year with the load amount outstanding against
them from the date of first disbursal.
g. From which quarter the amount deposited fell short of the installment amount to be
deposited by the society, the action taken by DCHFC, if any & the reason/ explanation
forwarded by the IVT society be given in details
h. What steps were taken for recovering the loan amount from the borrowers who defaulted
in repayment of the loan.
i. Breakup of the loan amount against the borrowers/flat owners with their membership
numbers be given
3. once this information is ready with you, Appellant would also like to inspect the records of
the DCHFC A/c IVT Coop Group Housing Society Ltd. in respect of the above information
& other incidental records related to the above points for the period so as to ascertain that the
information provided to me is correct. Please intimate the date time and venue when
Appellant come and inspect the same.
Reply of PIO:
“The information sought pertains to the financial transactions between DCHFC and IVT
CGHS Ltd. Such information is held in the fiduciary relationship as well as commercial
confidence, and as such can not be provided to the Applicant, it is exempted from disclosure
under Clauses (d) and (e) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, 2005.”
Grounds for First Appeal:
“Section 8 clause (e) says information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship,
unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure
of such information. As has been said above the applicants are the flat owners of the IVT
cooperative group housing Society Ltd. & the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of the
information. The fiduciary relationship carries no meaning under such a situation. ”
Order of the First Appellate Authority:
“In a similar case, CIC in Appeal case No. CIC/SG/A/2008/00263 dated 04/03/2009 of
Mr. Harcharan Singh Vs. General Manager, DCHFC Ltd. has decided that the information about
the details of load of the society are in the nature of commercial confidence and is in its fiduciary
relationship, Therefore, Disclosure of the said information comes under section 8(1)(d) and (e) of
the RTI Act, 2005. The Appellant being a owner/member of the society is also having an
opportunity for seeking information under section 139 of the Delhi Co-operative Societies Act,
2003. In view of the above, SPIO/PIO has correctly applied Section 8 of the RTI Act for
withholding the information. Accordingly appeal is dismissed.”
Grounds for Second Appeal:
“This information is very necessary to know the status of the loan taken by members and
details about repayment of the same to the DCHFC as the money is again being demanded
though the load was cleared by many members of our association almost 15 years ago.”
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:
Appellant: Mr. Tarsem Kumar Kaushish
Respondent: Mr. L.R. Garg, PIO
The PIO will give the following information to the Appellant:
1- Date of first default of the society and if any action has been taken details of
such action.
2- Whether the default on the books of DCHFC is considered to be of the society
or the individual society members.
3- Copy of the ledger account of the society. Decision: The appeal is allowed.
The PIO will give the information mentioned above to the Appellant before 15 August 2009.
This decision is announced in open chamber.
Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.
Any information in compliance with this order will be provided free cost as per Section 7(6) of
RTI Ac.
Shailesh Gandhi
Information Commissioner
6 August 2009
(In any correspondence on this decision, mentioned the complete decision number.)
k.j.