Supreme Court orders RBI to make list of defaulter public

New Delhi : Supreme Court of India on Friday obligated the Reserve Bank of India to disclose the names of loan defaulters under a RTI act, also asking it to make public inspection report containing critical assessment of the banks and financial institutions. The bench warned RBI that any further non-compliance of its order would be taken by it "seriously" and it would have to face contempt proceedings.

A SC bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and M R Shah ordered RBI to withdraw their current disclosure policy under which the information cannot be disclosed on public domain under Right to information act. The court also pulled up RBI for not complying with its 2015 order.

In 2015, the Supreme Court had ruled, “We have surmised that many financial institutions have resorted to such acts which are neither clean nor transparent. RBI, in association with them, has been trying to cover up their acts from public scrutiny. It is the responsibility of RBI to take rigid action against those banks which have been practising disreputable business practices.”

“From the past, we have also come across financial institutions which tried to defraud the public. These acts are neither in the best interests of the country nor in the interests of citizens. To our surprise, RBI as a watchdog should have been more dedicated towards disclosing information to the general public under the Right to Information Act,” it had said.