NEW DELHI: Observing that RBI’s disclosure policy runs afoul of the RTI Act as well as a 2015 judgment, the Supreme Court on Friday told RBI to disclose the wilful defaulters’ list. It also asked the central bank to disclose all information regarding its annual inspection report of banks except those falling under “matters of national economic interest”.
The bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao also directed RBI to review its ‘disclosure policy’ which says certain information need not be disclosed.
Taking a grim view of the violation of transparency laws, the SC warned the banking regulator to treat this as “the last opportunity” to come clean.
The order came on a contempt petition filed by RTI activist S C Agrawal against RBI. The petitioner said RBI’s rationale for non-disclosure of information was in contempt of a 2015 Supreme Court judgment that said RBI ought not hide information that might embarrass banks.
Earlier, the Central Information Commission had also held that RBI cannot deny information to an information seeker unless the material is exempted from disclosure under law. RBI had said that it could not disclose information as the annual inspection report of the bank contained fiduciary information as defined under the transparency law.
While RTI activists hail the SC order as a positive development, financial sector experts are not convinced. They point out that globally, no central bank puts internal inspection report in the public domain as it is fraught with financial risks.
Annual report
RBI’s annual inspection ascertains compliance of banks on recognition of NPAs, capital framework, risk management, among others