SC Mulls Disclosing Total Amount of Outstanding Loans, RBI Resists

The RBI opposed the Supreme Court’s suggestion, citing the confidentiality clause.

Supreme Court of India. (Photo: Reuters)

Default in repayment of loans running into “lakhs of crores of rupees” on Tuesday prompted the Supreme Court to suggest making public the total outstanding amount without disclosing the defaulters’ names, but RBI resisted the proposal citing the confidentiality clause.

The bench also sought the assistance of Ministry of Finance and Indian Banks Association by making them parties and posted the matter for further hearing on 26 April.

During the hearing, the RBI counsel cited provisions in the RBI Act and the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005, which mandate confidentiality of information.

The bench at the next hearing will be assisted by all the parties on the issues likely to be framed by them, including specifically the question whether “the total outstanding amount of loans defaulted can be disclosed or not.”

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), favoured the disclosure of outstanding loan amounts and cited the recent apex court verdict of December 2015 to claim that RBI has to provide all information. The federal bank’s counsel, however, said that decisions related to the Right to Information Act would not apply to the case in hand.