'Cooperative bank records cannot be withheld; documents must be provided to members under the Right to Information (RTI) Act' – Supreme Court's landmark verdict in the Muppathadam Bank case.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a cooperative bank must provide requested documents to its members. This order was issued by a bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, in a case concerning an RTI application filed by P.R. Ramachandran, a member of the Muppathadam Service Cooperative Bank. The petitioner had sought a copy of a building construction contract between the bank and a labour cooperative society, as well as the minutes of the bank's most recent General Body meeting. Legal proceedings were initiated after the bank denied access to these documents, arguing that it did not qualify as a 'public authority' under the Right to Information Act.

However, the Supreme Court clarified that under the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act, the Registrar has the authority to inspect and demand the production of records from cooperative societies. The Court observed that even if an institution is not a 'public authority' as defined by the RTI Act, documents that could be accessed by a public authority under the law still fall within the ambit of the RTI Act. The Court also rejected the bank's contention that a formal decision to initiate an inquiry must exist before such documents can be requested.

The Court pointed out that, in order to determine whether an inquiry is even necessary, the relevant documents would first need to be examined. Furthermore, the Court noted that the requested documents do not constitute commercial secrets or information related to intellectual property. Furthermore, the request for the bank’s construction contract and the minutes of the General Body meeting was made by a member of the bank. Consequently, the court clarified that these documents cannot be withheld from the member on the grounds that they constitute private information or are unrelated to the public interest. However, the judgment notes that the situation might differ if such documents were requested by an individual with no affiliation to the bank.

The court affirmed that, under the provisions of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, the Registrar is empowered to inspect and oversee the records of co-operative societies. It directed the concerned Joint Registrar to promptly secure both documents and hand them over to the petitioner within a maximum period of two weeks. Stating that there were no grounds to interfere with the order of the High Court Division Bench, the Supreme Court dismissed both appeals filed by the Muppathadam Service Co-operative Bank. Senior Advocate S.P. Chaly and Advocate P.S. Sudheer appeared for the Muppathadam Co-operative Bank, while Advocate M.R. Abhilash appeared for the State Information Commission.