The Supreme Court on Friday gave the RBI “one last opportunity” to disclose annual inspection reports of banks as it just stopped short of issuing a contempt notice against RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, and ordered the Reserve Bank of India to disclose the wilful defaulters’ list under the Right To Information Act.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das
New Delhi:
Taking a serious view of the continued defiance the court came down heavily asking the RBI to make full disclosure of its annual inspection reports on the financial health of banks including position of NPAs and also withdraw its disclosure norms as it came in the way of making public informations on the state of banks under the RTI.
A bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice M R Shah said: “Any further violation will be viewed seriously.” The RBI, as per 2015 judgment, was supposed to disclose the annual audit report of the banks, status of NPAs and action taken there on.
The top court by its 2015 order had asked the RBI to share information on the annual audit of the banks including on NPAs under the Right to Information Act.
However, this was stalled after RBI introduced disclosure norms that blocked the disclosure of information on the financial health of the banks under the RTI. An RTI activist Subhash Chander Agrawal had moved the top court seeking contempt action against RBI Governor for not complying with its 2015 judgment.
Girish Mittal and Agrawal had moved the top court for contempt action against the RBI not complying with the court’s direction to disclose information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The petitioners had claimed that RBI and its former Governor Urjit Patel had “wilfully and deliberately” disobeyed the top court’s judgement asking the central bank to disclose information under the RTI Act.
The two petitioners sought initiation of contempt of court action against former Governor for not disclosing information as directed by the top court.
One of the contempt petition filed by Girish Mittal said RBI refused to provide information sought about the inspection reports of some banks.
In December 2015, the petitioner under the RTI Act had sought certain information which included copies of inspection reports of ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India from April 2011 till December 2015.
The top court also ordered the central bank to withdraw its non-disclosure policy, which the court concluded is in violation of the apex court’s judgment in 2015.
Taking a serious view of the continued defiance the court came down heavily asking the RBI to make full disclosure of its annual inspection reports on the financial health of banks including position of NPAs and also withdraw its disclosure norms as it came in the way of making public informations on the state of banks under the RTI.
A bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice M R Shah said: “Any further violation will be viewed seriously.” The RBI, as per 2015 judgment, was supposed to disclose the annual audit report of the banks, status of NPAs and action taken there on.
The top court by its 2015 order had asked the RBI to share information on the annual audit of the banks including on NPAs under the Right to Information Act.
However, this was stalled after RBI introduced disclosure norms that blocked the disclosure of information on the financial health of the banks under the RTI. An RTI activist Subhash Chander Agrawal had moved the top court seeking contempt action against RBI Governor for not complying with its 2015 judgment.
Girish Mittal and Agrawal had moved the top court for contempt action against the RBI not complying with the court’s direction to disclose information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The petitioners had claimed that RBI and its former Governor Urjit Patel had “wilfully and deliberately” disobeyed the top court’s judgement asking the central bank to disclose information under the RTI Act.
The two petitioners sought initiation of contempt of court action against former Governor for not disclosing information as directed by the top court.
One of the contempt petition filed by Girish Mittal said RBI refused to provide information sought about the inspection reports of some banks.
In December 2015, the petitioner under the RTI Act had sought certain information which included copies of inspection reports of ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India from April 2011 till December 2015.
Bank credit grows by 14.19%
Bank credit rose by 14.19 percent to Rs 96.45 lakh crore while deposits grew 10.60 percent to Rs 125.30 lakh crore in the first fortnight ended on April 12, according to recent RBI data. In the year ago fortnight, deposits were at Rs 113.29 lakh crore and advances stood at Rs 84.46 lakh crore. In the fiscal ended March 2019, bank credit had risen by 13.24 percent and deposits grew by 10.03 percent.