Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/PB/C/2008/00037-SM dated 14.05.2007
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated 02.03.2009
Appellant : Shri R.V. Saxena
Respondent : Punjab and Sind Bank
The Appellant is not present, in spite of notice.
On behalf of the Respondent the following are present:-
(i) Shri Deepinder Shah, Chief Manager
(ii) Shri Manjit Singh, Senior Manager
The brief facts of the case are as under.
2. The Complainant had requested the CPIO in his letter dated 14 May 2007 for 13
pieces of information including photocopies of various proceedings, noting and the
decision taken by the competent authority in the Bank in respect of a certain property.
The CPIO, in his reply dated 19 June 2007, informed him that the information sought
being very voluminous, it was being collected and would take some time. He requested
the Complainant to bear with them. The Complainant reminded the CPIO in his letter
dated 10 July 2007, but did not file an appeal before the first Appellate Authority. In the
meanwhile, the CPIO provided him with point wise information on all the items listed in
his original application as in the letter dated 28 July 2007. It is noted that the CPIO wrote
to him again on 11 February and 23 April 2008 providing some more information and
clarifying some others on the express request from the Complainant. The Complainant,
however, has come before us alleging denial of information by the CPIO.
3. During the hearing, the Complainant was not present in spite of notice. In his
complaint, he has alleged that except for a reply from the CPIO that the information
being voluminous was being procured and he should bear with them, he has received no
other response from the Bank. The Respondent, in his submission, informed us that the
reply of the CPIO containing detailed information on each item included in the original
application of the Complainant had been sent on to 28 July 2007 but that reply returned
undelivered as the postal authorities/courier company could not find the addressee. It was
only on 11 February 2008, that is nearly 2 months after the complaint was filed in the
Commission, that the information was finally delivered to him. But it is understandable
that when he had filed his complaint in December 2007, the information sent by the CPIO
had not reached him. In the peculiar circumstances of this case where the CPIO had been
careful to inform him about the likely delay in the collection of the information and the
non-delivery of the information to the Appellant when sent in his address, we do not
intend to impose any penalty on the CPIO as he had made honest efforts to provide
information as soon as he could collect it. The Respondent showed us the reply finally
delivered to the Complainant and we found that the CPIO had indeed provided all the
information that had been sought. The information has been received by the Complainant
and there is no further relief to be given. We dispose off the complaint
4. 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