Rajan must not be allowed to hide bank defaulters from public scrutiny

Chief Justice T S Thakur must save the fellow countrymen from such sharks out to devour India when he takes up the matter on April 26 It was rather surprising that the Supreme Court chief justice T S Thakur told the court on 12th April that his bench would examine if the total amount of defaults in repayment of bank loans running into lakhs of crores of rupees should be made public, without disclosing the defaulters name. He said: “There is no confidentiality in figures, but the names may be kept out.” Justice Thakur made this observation when the RBI counsel stoutly resisted the court’s earlier stance to name and shame the big defaulters. This has serious implications for financial stability… This will also affect the economic interest of the state.” After a careful consideration of all facts, the SC bench observed on December 16, 2015 that the RBI could not hide ‘routine information’ such as the names of top defaulters, the extent of losses suffered by banks and details of actions taken against banks from the public. Just four months have passed since then; in another public interest litigation that has come up before the apex court demanding the disclosure of the information about the big defaulters, the RBI governor is making the same old argument – that of fiduciary relationship and financial stability – to make the case once again for concealment of the information from the public.