Supreme Court rules RTI Act applies to private cooperative banks where state registrar has oversight and records are accessible to public authority.
RTI Act Covers Private Cooperative Banks If Registrar Has Supervisory Role
The Supreme Court held that private cooperative banks fall within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, where the Registrar of Cooperatives exercises statutory control and maintains access to their records.
The bench ruled that even though the banks are privately managed, their functional integration with a public authority brings them under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. The judgment relied on the Societies registered under the Cooperative Societies Act being deemed ‘public authorities’ due to state control over governance, audits, and dispute resolution.
This expands transparency avenues in financial institutions. Lawyers handling RTI matters should now consider filing applications for cooperative bank records, particularly in fraud or deposit-related disputes, citing supervisory control as the threshold for RTI applicability.
Citations
- Chief Engineer v. Active Builders (2011) 7 SCC 741
- RTI Act, 2005, Section 2(h)
