IBPS and RTI

The RTI Act

RTI stands for Right to Information. Right to Information is a part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution. Article 19 (1) says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. As early as in 1976, the Supreme Court said in the case of Raj Narain vs State of UP, that people cannot speak or express themselves unless they know. Therefore, right to information is embedded in article 19. In the same case, Supreme Court further said that India is a democracy. People are the masters. Therefore, the masters have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning. Further, every citizen pays taxes. Even a beggar on the street pays tax (in the form of sales tax, excise duty etc) when he buys a piece of soap from the market. The citizens therefore, have a right to know how their money was being spent. These three principles were laid down by the Supreme Court while saying that RTI is a part of our fundamental rights.

Who would give you information?

The Central RTI Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

All bodies or authorities, which are constituted under the Constitution or under any law or under any Government notification or all bodies, including NGOs, which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government are covered.

What about private bodies?
Like IBPS claims (according to some candidates, no blames on this institute)
that it is not aided by Govt.

Hence it is an autonomous and pvt. Body? And is NOT subject to RTI?

All private bodies, which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government, are directly covered.

Others are indirectly covered.

That is, if a government department can access information from any private body under any other Act, the same can be accessed by the citizen under the RTI Act through that government department.

More about IBPS and RTI

Governing Board of IBPS consists of :

The Governing Board consists of nominees from Reserve Bank of India, Ministry of Finance Government of India, National Institute of Bank Management, representatives of Public Sector Banks, Insurance sector and academics. The matters related to policy and affairs of the Institute are vested in the Governing Board.

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) was set up at  the behest of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Public Sector Banks. 

The first Chairman of its Governing Board was Dr Manmohan Singh, the then Governor of RBI.

IBPS is registered as a Public Trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act of 1950;

A  Scientific and Industrial Research Organization by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and a centre for providing PhD in Management affiliated to the SNDT University.

What  can you do If they don’t accept your application by hand?

You can send it by post.

You should also make a formal complaint to the respective Information Commission under section 18.

The Information Commissioner has the power to impose a penalty of Rs 25000 on the concerned officer who refused to accept your application.

Is there a time limit to get the information?

Yes.

If you file your application with the PIO, you must receive information within 30 days.

In case you have filed your application with Assistant PIO then information has to be made available within 35 days.

In case the matter to which the information pertains affects the life and liberty of an individual, information has to be made available in 48 hours.

Do you have to give reasons why do you want a particular information?

Absolutely not! You are not required to give any reasons or additional information other than your contact details (i.e., Name, Address, and Phone No.). Sec 6(2) clearly says that no information other than contact details of the applicant shall be asked.

Can the PIO refuse to accept your RTI application?

No. 
The PIO cannot refuse to accept your application for information under any circumstances. 
Even if the information does not pertain to his/her department/jurisdiction, s/he has to accept it. 

If the application does not pertain to that PIO, he would have to transfer it to the right PIO within 5 days under sec 6(2).

In any case if the information isn’t received within next 30 days of filing RTI then please use this language in your appeal to be sent to the Appellate authority IBPS.

1. I filed an application for knowing about my marks with Roll Number XYZ at the XYZ examination. Please tell me the daily progress made on my application so far. i.e. when did my application reach which officer, for how long did it stay with that officer and what did he/she do during that period?
2. According to the rules, reply should have been sent to me in 30 days. However, it is more than XYZ days  now. Please give the names and designations of the officials who were supposed to take action on my application and who have not done so?
3. What action would be taken against these officials for not doing their work and for causing harassment to the public? By when would that action be taken?
4. By when would I get the demanded information now?

In normal circumstances, such an application would be thrown in a dustbin. But this law says that the Government has to reply in 30 days. If they don’t do that, their salary could be deducted. Now, it is not easy to answer these questions.

The first question is – please provide the daily progress made on my application.

There is no progress made. But the government officials cannot write in these many words that they have not acted for so many months. Else that would be admission of guilt on paper.

The next question is – please provide the names and designations of the officers who were supposed to take action on my application and who had not done so

If the government provides names and designations of the officials, their responsibility gets fixed. Any officer is most scared of fixing of responsibility against him in this manner. So, the moment one files such an application, his/her pending work is done.