AUDIT REPORTS of NATIONALIED BANKS

[umapathi]

Dear all I am a new member and ex-staff of Nationlised bank. I request the RTI INDIA group members to guide in respect of disclosure of AUDIT reports under the RTI act. THE audit in the bank are conducted by their own staff of Audit Department and most of the time the auditor gives a good relating despite some lapses being noticed by them. the follow-up of the rectification of audit report too is weak.it is because of this collusion of audit staff with branch officials frauds in the bank are on the rise resulting in loss of public and customers money. though a case of FRAUD is reported to RBI , it consolidates the date for statistical purpose but no effort is made to recover the lost and misappropriated funds. this can be prevented to some exgent by use of RTI Act. so, kindly give your opinions or suggestions to tackle the problem of Fraud by the staff of the bank who are continuing in service of the bank without any punishment.
with regards
umapathi.s

[sngupta]

Mr Umapathi,
This is very good subject to work as so many irregularaties pointed out by audit are not being taken seriously by managment and the public servants having no control on him. You may ask any thing under RTI even audit report is subject to disclose to public. We may ask audit report under RTI also because it is public property. If you need any support in this I am ready to help you.

[jps50]

In 2006 CIC had ordered RBI to supply audit report of a gujarat based cooperative bank to the applicant. However it would be difficult to get audit reports from nationalised banks now, as it contains personal information of clients' accoounts and recently CIC has ruled that details of accounts of customers of bank are beyond RTI Act. Any way, we can have a test case by asking for copies of internal audit report of a branch of a nationalised bank.

[karira]

CIC has allowed disclosure of External and Internal Audit reports of bank branches.

1. http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_05072007_05.pdf
(Canara Bank)
As far as item no.(xi) is concerned, both internal and external audit report as such cannot be exempted from disclosure under section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act. The Chief Public Information Officer/AA can go through the audit report and barring the information containing commercial confidence and trade secret, rest of the report can be made available to the appellant on payment of requisite fees.

2.http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_31012007_2.pdf
(Vijaya Bank)
As regards, disclosure of
information possessed by the Vijaya Bank, mainly those relating to Audit
Reports, which have been denied u/s 8(1) (d) of the Act is untenable.

[ganpat1956]

it would be difficult to get audit reports from nationalised banks now, as it contains personal information of clients' accoounts and recently CIC has ruled that details of accounts of customers of bank are beyond RTI Act. Any way, we can have a test case by asking for copies of internal audit report of a branch of a nationalised bank.

Audit reports are not mere details on accounts of customers, but mainly to do with the violations if any in the bank's own laid down systems, procedures & guidelines and and also regarding the violation if any, on the policy guidelines of the govt and RBI, in respect of the functioning of a bank/branch. Hence for nationalised banks, these are very much within the realm of RTI. CIC decisions are already there on the subject as cited by Karira.

[murgie]

There is also scope to pose questions in a way that is less likely to attract the exemption provisions of Section 8 of the RTI Act. E.g. if you ask for percentage and total monetary value of non-performing assets, or the total value of loans where repayments have been overdue for more than 60 days, the bank can presumably try and answer these without revealing the identity of an individual borrower, so no one's privacy need be invaded. Would be a very valuable test RTI request, for someone who can claim a legitimate interest in such statistics. Best, -Murgie

[umapathi.s]

thanks for the guidance and suggestions. However, there is no clear cut and specific directions from the CIC regarding the full disclousere of Audit reports of the bank. it is subjected to application u/s 10 (1) of the Act. still the present dicision of the CIC would serve the purpose of public interest as highlighted by the members. Thanks, I shall apply for such reports and share the difficulties if faced by me.

thanks. Regards

[raja2405]

good thinking. if someone want audit report in particular for his own a/c. is it possible?

[umapathi.s]

I feel there is no problem in seeking the audit Report for his own a/c since no third party information or confidentiality is involved.However, the Audit Report of the bank would be in consolidated form and account wise. so, you can seek extract of Audit Report having details of your own particular account.

[mjsmurthy]

Whenever auditors visit for audit - either statutory, internal or RBI auditors to branches or controlling offices, they always get a royal treatment. The auditors being human are carried away by this right royal treatment and overlook many irregularities that are prevailing. The first and formost thing that govt. should pass is that the audit team should not be given such royal treatments. such treatments should be treated as a punishable act to bribe the auditors.
Even if an upright official brings to the notice of the CVO of the Bank about certain irregularities to probe into, it is often observed that certain CVOs are making business out of the information given by the officer / staff and cover up the entire episode to protect the guilty and the actual facts are not seeing the light till it is too late.
There should be certain tags on auditors, CVOs & top Bank officials if we want the Banking system in our country to survive.