A full bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) is public authority under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The bench directed IBA to appoint a public information officer to provide desired information to the applicant within 30 days. IBA had refused to provide to provide information stating that it is not a public authority, which was contested by two individuals, RK Jain and Ita Bose in the CIC. The CIC, M. Sridhar Acharyulu had earlier declared IBA as public authority, which the IBA contested before a full bench. The bench observed that IBA performs important role in decision making process of banking industry and its members constituted banks, including public sector banks and the chairmen of the public sector banks are public servants, being appointed by the government. Hence, these banks and associated state banks are undoubtedly public authorities under the Provisions of the RTI Act, it ruled. Moreover, IBA was part of the administrative structure for monitoring Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and managed media and publicity for the same under the authority from the government. In official document, IBA was shown as a stakeholder with major role in PMJDY, the CIC said.
