New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday made it clear that disclosure of the listof defaulters of bank loans of Rs 500 crores and above given by the Reserve Bank of India in a sealedcover will not lead us anywhere and refused to pass any order in this regard.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, hearing a PIL filed in 2003 on non performing assets, took up for consideration whether the defaulters list can be disclosed in view of the opposition from RBI that such disclosure will violate confidentiality clause and information on outstanding dues to banks will impact the country’s economy.
The court which is looking into the problem of huge bad debts of nationalised banks, said “the amounts outstanding is very large. We want to know as to the steps are you taking to recover them.”
The SG said the government had set up a five member committee to look into the entire gamut and it is likely to submit its report by the end of this month and the court can take a final call after the report was placed on record. He also informed the court that the government is contemplating amending the statutes to improve the mechanism of recovery of loans and in this regard it has already introduced the banking code.
Kamini Jaislwal, counsel for the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation however, said that since the RBI was covered under the Right to Information Act, the list of defaulters with NPAs of Rs 500 crore or more should be disclosed. She said the composition of the committee should have economic experts.
The CJI observed “the information of defaulters of Rs 500 crores and above indicate the extent of NPAs. We want to know why are NPAs accumulating, what are the reforms needed for that the problem does not recur.”
