Panel for disclosure of loan defaulters
parliamentary panel has urged the finance ministry to amend banking laws, including SBI Act, to provide for disclosure of names of loan defaulters by banks to tackle the menace of mounting NPAs.
Section 44 of the State Bank of India Act, 1955 as well as some other clauses of confidentiality in the relevant laws invariably prohibit disclosing the names of individuals, who owe money to banks or are responsible for bad loans on account of their failure to repay.
According to the report of the committee, the names of defaulters are, however, shared with the Reserve Bank of India and the Credit Information Bureau Limited (CIBIL).
The report submitted in Parliament recently also take note of the averments made by the Finance Ministry (Department of Financial Services) that there is no proposal to amend the relevant provisions of law to disclose the names of defaulters and publish the same in public domain.
The Committee on Petitions said that in view of serious magnitude of the problem of bad loans, wilful defaulters should be dealt with sternly and the amount due from them should be recovered within a specified time frame.
“...there is now an urgent need to make a clear distinction between ‘wilful defaulters’ and ‘other defaulters’ in the procedure prescribed under the relevant Acts so that the wilful defaulters should be dealt with sternly and the loan amount is recovered from them within a specified time frame,” it said.
The RBI had last year submitted to the Supreme Court a list of defaulters above ₹500 crore in a sealed cover claiming that the said information is confidential, as it is exempt from disclosure under Section 45E of the RBI Act.
Why was not the conversion of old currency notes allowed till March 31, 2017 for Indians as assured by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech on November 8 announcing demonetisation?
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has refused to answer the question under the Right to Information (RTI) Act claiming the query does not come under the definition of “information” as per the transparency law.
The Prime Minister in his speech on November 8, 2016, had assured countrymen that they could convert the notes of ₹1,000 and ₹500 till March 31.
Later, it was decided that the window till March 31 will be kept only for Non-Resident Indians who constitute a major support base for the ruling BJP.
The applicant had sought reasons, as “recorded” in the files of the RBI, behind the decision to not allow conversion of currency till March 31 for Indians as assured by the PM. “The question is in the nature of seeking reasons or justification from CPIO which is not defined as information as per Section 2(f) of the RTI Act,” the response form Suman Ray, Central Public Information Officer, said.