Bombay High Court stays CIC order compelling RBI to name big defaulters

The Bombay High Court, stayed till April, execution of an order passed by the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) directing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to disclose names of willful defaulters of bank loans. The decision came on Friday.

The CIC had passed the order on November 2 while hearing a plea filed by Sandeep Singh, who had sought details of bank loan defaulters. It also issued a notice to former RBI governor Urjit Patel for non implementation.

A division bench of Justice B P Dharmadhikari and Justice Sarang Kotwal stayed the order, which obliged the RBI to disclose the details of those defaulting on more than Rs 1,000 crore. RBI was also directed to collect their information from banks and update their voluntary disclosures periodically under the Right to Information Act.

Senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond, appearing for RBI on Friday, argued that the order was passed without appreciating the settled position of law. "Data collected from banks is confidential and cannot be shared by RBI. Moreover, a petition raising a similar issue, is pending before the Supreme Court of India," he said.

The petition states that the order and the subsequent show cause notice is nothing but a "colourable exercise of power and ex-facie arbitrary in nature".

"The order was passed mechanically," Dhond said, "It is palpably in breach of the principles of natural justice. It also states that RBI was not a party in the hearings that took place before CIC."

The lawyer also argued that no provision of the RTI act empowers the CIC to order disclosure by a public authority that is not a party to proceedings.

The High Court issued notice to CIC and posted the matter for further hearing on April 19, 2019.

Big Bucks

CIC’s order obliged RBI to disclose the details of those defaulting on more than Rs 1,000 crore, collect their information from banks and update their voluntary disclosures periodically under RTI Act.