Hindustan
Times: New Delhi: Thursday, 29 April 2021.
Striking a blow for financial transparency in the banking system, the Supreme Court on Wednesday revived its 2015 judgment making it necessary for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to disclose financial information regarding private and public banks under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.
The court dismissed a joint plea by the Central government and 10 banks seeking a recall of the 2015 judgment, consequently negating its interim order that stayed the release of the inspection reports of banks.
A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and Vineet Saran held that the applications for recall were not maintainable and were an attempt to seek reconsideration of the 2015 judgment, which broke new grounds by opening up under the purview of the sunshine law, information relating to Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) or bad loans , losses from trading operations, even show-cause notices and fines imposed by RBI.
“A close scrutiny of the applications for recall makes it clear that in substance, the applicants are seeking a review of the judgment in Jayantilal N Mistry (2015 judgment). Therefore, we are of the considered opinion that these applications are not maintainable. All the miscellaneous applications are dismissed,” held the top court. It further noted that the banks did not make any attempt to present their version when the main case was heard.
Striking a blow for financial transparency in the banking system, the Supreme Court on Wednesday revived its 2015 judgment making it necessary for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to disclose financial information regarding private and public banks under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.
The court dismissed a joint plea by the Central government and 10 banks seeking a recall of the 2015 judgment, consequently negating its interim order that stayed the release of the inspection reports of banks.
A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and Vineet Saran held that the applications for recall were not maintainable and were an attempt to seek reconsideration of the 2015 judgment, which broke new grounds by opening up under the purview of the sunshine law, information relating to Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) or bad loans , losses from trading operations, even show-cause notices and fines imposed by RBI.
“A close scrutiny of the applications for recall makes it clear that in substance, the applicants are seeking a review of the judgment in Jayantilal N Mistry (2015 judgment). Therefore, we are of the considered opinion that these applications are not maintainable. All the miscellaneous applications are dismissed,” held the top court. It further noted that the banks did not make any attempt to present their version when the main case was heard.
.JPG)
.JPG)
