Customers' bank account details exempted under RTI

"Bank is a commercial entity and the agreement that it has arrived at with other parties are a matter of commercial confidence. The bank holds such information concerning private persons in a relationship of trust," Information Commissioner Padma Balasubramaniam said in a recent order.

The commission said this while dismissing a RTI request of a Amritsar resident Rajan Verma who had sought from Canara Bank five years details about all non-performing accounts at its Jallandhar branch, and settlements pertaining to them.

An account of a borrower is declared to be as non-performing when such a borrower is classified by a bank to be as sub-standard

or doubtful, following which a compromise is arrived at.

"A one-time settlement that has been arrived at by the bank in respect of a non-performing account being a matter of commercial confidence, the bank is under no obligation to disclose such information unless it is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information," the CIC said in its order.

The commission came to its decision after noting that Verma, who was a guarantor for a loan granted by the bank to a private company which later became a NPA, had sought the information in pursuance of his private interests.