No immunity from RTI Act,CIC tells co-op bank

Both the parties confirmed that there was no stay order by any court pertaining to the present complaint. The complainant pressed for hearing on merit,though it was admitted that a few cases earlier decided by the commission related to the bank and some other cooperative societies were pending before the high court. It was averred that the legal issues involved in the complaint were distinct.

The respondent said,“Bodies created under the Act are statutory bodies and those which come into existence in accordance with the provisions of the Act are not.” It was also argued that the bank was not financed by the government or any of its instrumentalities,and Registrar Cooperative Societies,Punjab,has only a regulatory role.

The respondent,giving an example of the Factory Act,1948,argued that by the fact that government exercises regulatory powers over private bodies,all shops and factories would also be public authorities.

After hearing both the parties,the CIC said information related to payment of DA installment falls under the RTI Act. “However,the respondent bank has erroneously chosen to deny information,” he said.

He said the Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Act,1957,was enacted by the legislature,and it describes the respondent bank as the ‘State Bank’. The Act fully regulates and controls its working,particularly financial matters,and states that the Registrar,Cooperative Societies,Punjab,would be the trustee and the funds were raised by the bank against the guarantees of the state government,the CIC said. The State Bank is registered under the Cooperative Societies Act.

The entire working capital of the bank comes from state sources— 95 per cent comes from NABARD,2.5 per cent from the state and another 2.5 per cent from the Centre. “Funds from NABARD are given against guarantee of the state government. Therefore,the respondent bank is a public authority,” he said.

“The bank concedes that the government holds a share capital of 50.71 lakh. This amount may not be large,but is big enough to give the government a legal foothold to ‘control’ the bank and its operations. Besides,the Managing Director of the bank is an appointee of the state government,” R I Singh said.

He directed the bank to provide copies of the documents free of cost within ten days. The case was adjourned to May 17 for hearing and compliance.