The Supreme Court on Monday turned the heat on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), asking why it is against making public names of 57 tax-dodgers who owe banks Rs. 85,000 crore in bad loans.
“Who are these people who have borrowed money and are not paying back? Why this fact that the person has borrowed money and not paying back be not known to public,” Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur asked.
The Bench’s strong push for transparency came after it went through a confidential report filed by the RBI containing names and details of those who have reneged on loans worth over Rs. 500 crore.
The court said the RBI should disclose the names of these defaulters and these should come out into the public domain through Right to Information (RTI) applications.
“People should know how much money a person has borrowed and how much money he needs to pay back. The amount payable should be known to public. Why should you withhold information?” Chief Justice Thakur asked the central bank’s counsel.
‘Not on purpose’RBI counsel responded that not all of those who have failed to pay back their loans have done it on purpose. ‘Names of defaulters cannot be made public under the statutory law’, he submitted.
“You must work in the interest of the country, not just in the interest of banks,” Chief Justice Thakur reacted.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), favoured disclosure of the outstanding loan amount and cited an apex court verdict of December 2015 to claim that the RBI had to provide information.
Next hearingThe Bench asked the RBI to come prepared with a decision on whether it intends to disclose the names or not by October 28, the next date of hearing.
The Supreme Court had expressed concern over the growing amount of bad loans, noting that “people are taking thousands of crores and running away by declaring their companies insolvent, but poor farmers who take small amounts of Rs. 20,000 or Rs. 15,000 suffer.”
