New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday took strong note of non-disclosure of the annual inspection report of banks by the RBI under the Right to Information Act.
A bench comprising justices LN Rao and MR Shah said it may initiate contempt proceedings against the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for not disclosing the annual inspection report of various banks under the transparency law.
The bench was hearing as many as three petitions, alleging non-compliance of the law by the federal bank. The apex court and the Central Information Commission had earlier held that the RBI cannot refuse to put the inspection reports in the public domain under the transparency law.
GOVT NO TO DETAILS OF RBI GOVERNOR’S APPOINTMENT
In another RTI matter, the Centre has refused to share details related to the appointment of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, in response to a query.
In this context, it has again cited a clause in the transparency law which bars disclosure of information, including “records of deliberations of the council of ministers, secretaries and other officers”. Das was on December 11, 2018, named as the Governor by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The appointment came after Urjit Patel abruptly resigned amid a face-off with the government. The RTI application also sought details of any advertisement or vacancy circular issued by the government for appointment of RBI Governor, names of all applicants who had applied for the post and those short-listed.
Incidentally, the section of the transparency law which bars disclosure of information, also says that the decisions of council of ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over.
After Das’ appointment was announced, Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee flayed the government for appointing the retired bureaucrat as RBI Governor. He also warned that the decision leaves a lot of “frightening” questions about governance issues at key public institutions.