Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/PB/A/2008/00975-SM dated 20.04.2008
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated: 7 August 2009
Name of the Appellant : Shri Goverdhan Singh Parihar,
S/o Shri Bharat Singh Parihar,
Behind Kripal Bhairo Ji Mandir,
Mukta Prasad Road, Sarvodya Basti,
Bikanir, Rajasthan.
Name of the Public Authority : CPIO, Punjab National Bank,
Zonal Office, 2 Nehru Place,
Tonk Road, Jaipur (Rajasthan).
The Appellant was present along with Shri Narendrea Puri.
On behalf of the Respondent, the following were present:-
(i) Shri S.P. Badaya, Chief Manager
(ii) Shri R.A. Sharma, Sr. Manager
(iii) Shri Sartaj Singh, Sr. Manager (Law)
2. In this case, the Appellant had, in his application dated April 20,
2008, requested the CPIO for 22 different items of information regarding the
appointment of agents, his own agency included, by the Bank for recovery
of loans in the State of Rajasthan. The CPIO replied on April 30, 2008 and
denied the information claiming that it was exempt from disclosure under
Section 8(1) (d) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act being in the nature of
commercial confidence. Not satisfied with this reply, he sent an appeal to
the Appellate Authority on May 3, 2008. The Appellate Authority disposed of
the appeal in his order dated June 12, 2008 providing some further
information/clarifications on some of the queries while denying the rest as
exempt from disclosure. The Appellant has challenged this order in the CIC
in second appeal.
3. During the hearing, both the parties were present and made their
submissions. The Appellant had asked for a large number of details not only
CIC/PB/A/2008/00975-SM
concerning his own agency, but also regarding all other agencies appointed
in the State of Rajasthan including the details of individual accounts
allotted to each one of them for recovery of a variety of loans. The
Respondent argued that the information sought concerned the confidential
agreements signed by the Bank with several recovery agents for collection
of difficult loans/NPAs and disclosure of such details would adversely affect
the competitive position of both the Bank and its recovery agents and other
customers. The Appellant agreed to revise his request and confine it to his
own case only.
4. Keeping in mind the above facts and the revised request of the
Appellant, we now direct the CPIO to provide to the Appellant within 20
working days from the receipt of this order, all the information against
items 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16 to 21 of his application of April 20, but confined to
the details concerning the recovery agency of the Appellant only. He shall
also provide copies of the telephone directories published by the Bank for
its Offices and Branches in the State of Rajasthan as desired by the
Appellant at item 22 of his application.
5. With the above directions, 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/2008/00975-SM