Deepali Kalia-
Published on August 07, 2021, 17:01 IST
The Supreme Court adjourns the hearing of pleas filed by banks including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India which challenged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s notices issued to them under Section 11(1) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The notices had directed the banks to reveal inspection reports, risk assessment reports for the Financial Years of 17-18 and 18-19.
A Bench comprising Justices S. Krishna Murari and Abdul Nazeer had upon the request of Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for one of the petitioner banks listed the matter for hearing on August 17.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the Union of India and others stated that first, the Bench needed to decide whether the case should be listed before a Bench led by Justice Nageswara Rao as an earlier contempt matter was decided by him.
Advocate Bhushan had stated on the last date, “Your Lordships had yourselves ordered that all these matters should go before Justice Rao as contempt matter was decided by him. According to what norms are of this court, this matter needs to be heard by a bench headed by Justice Nageswara Rao.”
The Bench led by Justice Rao had denied recalling the 2015 verdict in the case of Reserve Bank of India v Jayantilal N. Mistry which had held that under the RTI Act, RBI was obligated to disclose annual statements, inspection reports, defaulters’ lists, etc. related to banks.
The bank’s application was as a result dismissed by the Bench as it had observed that in the Supreme Court rules, no provision existed concerning the filing of any application in order to recall a judgment.
However, the Bench did allow the banks to go after other legal remedies available to them against the Jayantilal N. Mistry verdict.
Following this, separate writ petitions were filed by the banks in order to challenge the RTI notices issued by the RBI contending that disclosure of such sensitive information will negatively affect their business and their customer’s trust.
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Also Read: RBI guidelines regarding attachment and seizure