FINANCIAL NEWS
Banks once again move top court to keep inspection reports hidden
The court is scheduled to hear the case on July 22.
The country’s top banks have once again moved the Supreme Court against attempts to make their sensitive inspection reports public under the Right to Information Act.
The inspections are done by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and not even the employees of the banks, except the top management, are allowed to see it. But a 2015 ruling by the Supreme Court telling the RBI to make the reports available under the RTI Act changed all that.
Banks, and even the central government, have challenged the ruling in various ways.
State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and IDFC Bank filed a petition against a notice, in what could be a last-ditch attempt by the Indian banking system to keep confidential information under wraps. The notice was given to the banks under Section 11(1) of the RTI Act seeking third-party disclosure requirements.
It is important to recall here that the RBI allowed making such reports public as a result of the Supreme Court order in 2015. While the Apex court had originally asked for the full report, but subsequently, it was agreed that not the entire report would be made public, but the relevant portions on bad debts, and borrowers etc. Nevertheless, even such information can disclose much information about the borrowers, which violates various client confidentiality clauses of banks, the lenders have argued.
In April this year itself, the Supreme Court had dismissed one such attempt by the Central government and 10 banks. In early July, the court had again spurred Punjab National Bank against such a request.
In its original ruling in 2015 ruling, the SC had chastised the RBI for trying to keep the inspection reports confidential.