Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/SM/A/2009/000178 dated 29-04-2008
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated: 9 November 2009
Name of the Appellant : Shri M. P. Sharma
Senior Assistant CCPC,
State Bank of India,
Civil Lines Jalandhar,
Punjab.
Name of the Public Authority : CPIO, State Bank of India,
Local Head Office,
P.O.Box No.139, Sector - 17A,
Chandigarh - 160 017.
The Appellant was present in person.
On behalf of the Respondent, the following were present:-
(i) Shri Rajesh Malik, Deputy Manager (Law),
(ii) Shri Davinder Singh, AGM (Law)
(iii) Shri Vijay Garg, AGM,
2. In this case, the Appellant had requested the CPIO on April 29, 2008,
to tell him no suitable reply was given to his letter dated 21 September
2005. The CPIO replied on May 22, 2008 and clarified in detail on the issues
raised in his letter of 21 September 2005. Not satisfied with the reply, he
had approached the first Appellate Authority on June 21, 2008 which that
Authority rejected in his order dated July 5, 2008, holding the reply of the
CPIO to be in order. It is against this order that he has come to the CIC in
second appeal.
3. During the videoconferencing, the Appellant was present in the
Jalandhar Studio of the NIC whereas the Appellant was present in the
Chandigarh Studio. We heard their submissions. The Appellant had sent a
letter on 21 September 2005 addressed to the Chief Manager, State Bank of
India, Civil Lines, Jalandhar, drawing his attention to his original letter of 28
July 2004 which was about payment of his Lok Sabha Election duty bills. It
CIC/SM/A/2009/000178
seems he did not receive any reply from the authorities for nearly 2 years
when he approached the same authority under the Right to Information
(RTI) Act and wanted to know why his letter of September 21, 2005 had not
been suitably replied. We find that although the CPIO’s detailed reply gives
sufficient explanation about the status of his bills, it does not say anything
about why his letter of September 21, 2005 had not been suitably replied all
along. The Appellant submitted during the hearing that he was really
interested to know the reason why his letter had remained unanswered for
such a long time.
3. In view of this, we direct the CPIO to communicate to the Appellant
within 10 working days from the receipt of this order, the reasons, if any,
due to which his letter of September 21, 2005 had remained unattended till
he approached the authorities under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
4. With the above direction, the appeal is disposed off.
5. 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/2009/000178
