Supreme Court rules that private cooperative banks' records accessible to a public authority fall under RTI Act's ambit.
The Supreme Court has held that records of private cooperative banks fall within the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005, when those records are accessible to, or held under regulation by, a public authority such as the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
The Court reasoned that although the banks are privately managed, their functional subordination to state oversight bodies and the public interest in financial transparency justify classification as 'public authority' under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. Disclosure may be refused only on recognized exemptions like commercial confidence or privacy.
Implications for Practitioners
This broadens access to banking information in disputes involving cooperative institutions. Lawyers pursuing asset tracing or governance issues may now use RTI as a tool even against nominally private entities, subject to exemption checks.
Citations
- Central Public Information Officer v. Anil Kumar Verma (2026)
