CIC and CSIR

CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION

Room No. 308, B-Wing, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New
Delhi-110066

File No. CIC/DS/A/2010/000332/LS

APPELLANT Sh. Dharam Raj
PUBLIC AUTHORITY CSIR, M/o Science & Technology
DATE OF HEARING 1.11.2010
DATE OF DECISION 1.11.2010

Facts :-
Heard today dated 1.11.2010. Appellant present. CSIR is represented by Dr. D.S. Bedi, PIO and Ms. Valsala Kutty, Consultant, RTI.
2. The matter, in short, is that a fire broke out on 23.7.2009 at the Headquarters of CSIR located at 2, Rafi Marg, New Delhi, in which, unfortunately, three employees lost their lives. The appellant is a Section Officer in CSIR. He had filed an RTI application dated 25.8.2009 seeking information on 16 paras regarding the security system in the CSIR Headquarters and the matters related there-with. The CPIO had responded to it vide letter dated 25.09.2009 wherein information on certain paras was supplied to the appellant but it was held back in respect of certain other paras. On appeal, interestingly, the first Appellate Authority took a totally contrary view and came to the conclusion that the Public Authority was not obliged to provide the requested information. His order is extracted below:-
“I have gone through your original application wherein you have sought information on a number of issues. In this connection, I would like to bring to your notice the judgments of the CIC in the case of Dr. D.V. Rao Vs APIO, Department of Legal Affairs, New Delhi and in the case of Shri P.L. Sanyal Vs Sh. Amit Jha, CPIO and Sh. Naved Masood,
Appellate Authority, Deptt. of Agriculture & Cooperation, New Delhi. You will note that the CIC has clearly taken the stand in their cases that “the petitioner’s entitlement to information is only in respect of categories of information mentioned in Section 2(f). It is not open to an appellant to ask, in the guise of seeking information, questions to the Public
authorities about the nature and quality of their actions. The RTI Act does not cast on the Public Authority the obligation to answer queries.”
2. In my opinion the queries made by you are similar in nature and as such the Public Authority is not obliged to provide you with the information sought.
3. However, in case you are not satisfied with above decision, you may file a second appeal under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act-2005 with Central Information Commission within 90 days from the receipt of this decision. The address of CIC is as under.”
 

In other words, the Appellate Authority has set aside the order of CPIO and put a blanket ban on disclosure of any information.
3. Hence, the present appeal.
4. I have heard the appellant. He is not satisfied with the information provided to him in para No.1. He also protests against non-supply of copy of the report of the Fact Finding Committee constituted by the competent authority. It is his submission that he is seeking this information in the larger public interest.
5. I have perused the RTI application and the response of CPIO in respect of each para. I have also heard Ms Valsala Kutty when she submits that information in respect of certain paras was not provided to the appellant as the queries were starting with words like why, what, when etc. On a thoughtful consideration of the matter, I am of the opinion that the appellant has raised very pertinent queries about the security set up in CSIR Headquarters as also about the matters relating to the fire incident. His queries do, indeed, fall in the ambit of section 2(f) of the RTI Act and, therefore, he is entitled to parawise information
in respect thereof. In view of the above discussion, it is ordered that the appellant may be provided information in regard to para 01 limited to the number of security personnel deployed on security duty. Importantly, he may be provided a copy of the report of the Fact Finding Committee headed by Dr. S.K. Joshi, former Director General, CSIR. Further, accurate parawise information also may be provided to him regarding paras 06 to 12 and 14 to 16 of the RTI application.
6. Before parting with this matter, we would like to observe that total denial of information by the Appellate Authority, relying on the decision dated 21.4.2006 of this Commission in File No. CIC/AT/A/2006/000045 is not based on correct appreciation of law. It needs to be underlined that RTI Act aims at setting out a practical regime of Right to Information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every Public Authority. The view taken by the Appellate Authority goes against the very spirit of the RTI Act and, therefore, is not sustainable. To illustrate, how can it be denied by the public authority that a Fact Finding Committee was constituted by the competent authority and that it submitted a report and so on. The CPIO and AA are advised to decide the cases in the true spirit of the RTI Act in future.
5. The order of the Commission may be complied with in 03 weeks time.

Sd/-
(M.L. Sharma)
Central 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.
( K.L. Das )
Assistant Registrar

Review of Service Charges for Cheque Collection – Local, Outstation and Speed Clearing

RBI/2010-11/377
DPSS.CO.CHD.No. 1671 / 03.06.01 / 2010-11

January 19, 2011

The Chairman and Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer
All Scheduled Commercial Banks includin RRBs / UCBs /
State Co-operative Banks / District Central Co-operative Banks
Madam / Dear Sir,
Review of Service Charges for Cheque Collection – Local, Outstation and Speed Clearing
Given the advantages of using electronic modes for initiating payments, especially for large value transactions, Reserve Bank of India has been taking concerted steps towards increasing the acceptability, reach and efficiency of electronic transactions. Paper-based instruments, however, continue to account for a significant volume of payments in the country. Reserve Bank has therefore been encouraging the use of technology and the core-banking infrastructure of the banking system for reducing the clearing cycle and movement of cheques, both local and outstation.
2. In this regard, attention of banks is invited to our circulars DPSS.CO.No.611 / 03.01.03(P) / 2008-09 dated October 8, 2008 and DPSS.CO.No.829 / 03.01.03(SC) / 2008-09 dated November 17, 2008 in terms of which, charges for Outstation Cheque Collection as also cheques collected under the Speed Clearing arrangement were mandated by the Reserve Bank for different value bands.
3. On a review of the developments in this regard, it has been decided to revise the charges structure. While Reserve Bank would continue to mandate charges for smaller value transactions relating to savings account customers, greater freedom is being accorded to banks to determine charges for larger value transactions, subject to such charges being levied by the banks in a fair and transparent manner. These measures are expected to hasten the migration of transactions to electronic mode.
4. Accordingly, the following service charge structure will come into effect from April 1, 2011.
(a) Service (Processing) Charges for Local Clearing (by Clearing Houses from Member Banks) –

System	Existing (Rs.)		Revised (Rs.)
	Presenting Bank	Drawee Bank	Presenting Bank	Drawee Bank
Clearing at MICR-CPCs	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.50
Cheque Truncation	0.50	0.50	0.50	1.00

(b) Service Charges for Outstation Cheque Collection –

Existing (Rs.)		Revised (Rs.)
Value	Service charge from all customers	Value	Service charge from Savings a/c customers
Up to and including 10,000	50	Up to and including 5,000	25^
		Above 5,000 and up to and including 10,000	50*^
Above 10,000 and up to and including 1,00,000	100	Above 10,000 and up to and including 1,00,000	100*^
Above 1,00,000	150	Above 1,00,000	Left to the banks to decide
* No change.                                       ^ All inclusive maximum amount chargeable by banks to the customers.

(c)  Service Charges for Cheque Collection under Speed Clearing (by Collecting Banks from customers) –

Existing (Rs.)		Revised (Rs.)
Value	Service charge from all customers	Value	Service charge from Savings a/c customers
Up to and including   1,00,000	Nil	Up to and including 1,00,000	Nil*
Above 1,00,000	150	Above 1,00,000	Left to the banks to decide
* No change.

5. Banks are free to fix charges for collection of instruments for credit to other types of accounts.
6. While fixing service charges not mandated herein, banks may note the following –
(a) The service charge structure put in place by the bank should have the approval of the Board of Directors.
(b) Charges fixed should be reasonable and computed on a cost-plus-basis and not as an arbitrary percentage of the value of the instrument. The service charges-structure should not be open ended and should clearly specify the maximum charges that would be levied on customers including charges if any, payable to other banks.
(c) While sharing service charges, banks may be guided by the provisions of circular CIR / RB-I / CCP / 64 dated April 8, 2010 issued by the Indian Banks' Association.
(d) Banks may note to ensure that collection charges fixed for instruments of any value is lower under Speed Clearing vis-a-vis Outstation Cheque Collection so as to encourage the use of Speed Clearing.
(e) The service charges mandated / fixed by banks are inclusive of all charges (postal, courier, handling, etc.) other than service tax.
7. Banks shall use electronic modes like RTGS / NEFT to remit clearing proceeds to the collecting bank branch availing of Outstation Cheque Collection facility.
8. These directions are issued by the Reserve Bank of India in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 18 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).
Yours faithfully,
(G Padmanabhan)
Chief General Manager