The Supreme Court of India has directed the Reserve Bank of India not to disclose any data pertaining to inspection reports, risk assessment reports and financial inspection reports of banks, including the State Bank of India under the Right to Information Act as of now.
The ruling was a part of an application filed by banks, which said that such information cannot be made public without first giving them an opportunity to oppose it. The top court had earlier allowed the RBI in 2015 to release such information to RTI applicants or risk contempt of court.
As reported by The Economic Times, there are a pile of RTI applications at the RBI ever since the court ruled that the banking regulator must reveal all information under RTI, except those excluded under the law.
The banks then proceeded to the apex court seeking relief. The lenders are namely HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI, which have been affected by the alleged leak of one such report.
“Inspection reports, risk assessment reports, annual financial inspection reports of the banks including State Bank of India shall not be released by the Reserve Bank of India until further orders,” a bench comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna said on Wednesday.
The interim order will remain effective until the court examines the details involved in the case. SBI was represented by standing counsel Sanjay Kapur and the RBI by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also appeared for SBI.
