INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The top court warned the RBI to rethink its stand on disclosures under the RTI Act
The Supreme Court
on Friday directed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to disclose information about its annual inspection report of banks and the list of
wilful defaulters under the Right to Information Act (RTI)
The bench was hearing contempt petitions filed by RTI activists Subhash Chandra Agrawal and Girish Mittal against the RBI
Ordering the central bank to disclose the information unless exempted under law, the bench did not go ahead with contempt proceedings
Here are 10 things to know:The Supreme Court had in January this year issued a contempt notice to the RBI for not disclosing
the annual inspection report of banks under RTI.The petitioners had claimed that the RBI under its former Governor Urjit Patel had "wilfully
and deliberately" disobeyed the top court's judgment asking the central bank to disclose information under the RTI Act.A bench headed by
Justice L Nageswara Rao directed the central bank to review its policy to disclose information relating to banks under RTI, saying "it is
duty bound under the law".It also warned the RBI to rethink its stand on disclosures under the RTI Act.The Supreme Court said the Reserve
Bank of India's non-disclosure policy was violation of its judgment in 2015.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
the Reserve Bank of India Act.The top court then held that the RBI cannot deny information to an information seeker under the transparency
law unless the material is exempted from disclosure under the law.The RBI defended its position by stating that it cannot disclose
final chance to the central bank to reconsider its stand on disclosure of annual inspection reports of banks and other details sought by
election news, live updates and election schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on TheIndianSubcontinent.com/elections
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates from each of the 543 parliamentary seats for the 2019 Indian general
