TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (4) TMI 1630
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....016 (3) SCC 525 is whether the information sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as the 'RTI Act') can be denied by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the other banks on the ground of economic interest, commercial confidence, fiduciary relationship or public interest. The facts of all the 11 Writ Petitions which were transferred to this Court are similar. The information that was sought by the Respondents in the transfer cases was refused on the ground that there was a fiduciary relationship between the RBI and the other banks, and hence, the information cannot be disclosed in view of the exemption under Section 8(1)(d) and (e) of the RTI Act. In all the cases that were transferred to this Court, the Cent....
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..... The submission made on behalf of the RBI that the disclosure would hurt the economic interests of the country was found to be totally misconceived. While referring to Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, this Court was of the opinion that the intent of the Legislature was to make available to the general public such information which had been obtained by the public authorities from private bodies. On the basis of the above observations, it was held that the RBI is liable to provide information regarding inspection reports and other documents to the general public. 3. Being alive to Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, under which information can be denied to the public to guard national security, sovereignty, national economic interest and relations wit....
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....o the Petitioner. The Central Information Commission directed the RBI to furnish information in respect of queries 1, 2, 9 and 10. In obedience to the direction issued by the Central Information Commission, RBI furnished information for queries 2, 9, 10. However, the RBI filed a Writ Petition in the High Court aggrieved by the directions issued by the Central Information Commission qua query No.1. After the judgment of this Court on 16.12.2015, RBI provided the information for query No.1. Query No. 1 pertained to information regarding the market losses on account of currency derivatives to the tune of 32,000/- crores as stated by the RBI in an affidavit filed before the Orissa High Court. The Petitioner sought a bank-wise breakup of the MTM....
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.... in the disclosure policy relating to the department of banking regulation was that information relating to specific supervisory issues emanating from inspection or scrutiny reports received from other supervisory departments are exempted from disclosure. Similar exemption was given to the inspection reports falling within the purview of the 'department of banking supervision'. Any information obtained from/submitted by banks/Financial Institutions and held by the RBI in a fiduciary capacity was also exempted from disclosure. The learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the exemptions from disclosure mentioned in the disclosure policy are contrary to the directions issued by this Court in its judgment dated 16.12.2015. Contempt Pe....
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....rt, the information sought for was given to the Petitioner on 18.02.2016. A contempt petition is not maintainable merely because the Petitioner is not satisfied with the information given to him. According to Mr. Gupta it is open to the Petitioner to file another application for further information if he is of the opinion that the entire information sought by him was not furnished. In any event, according to Mr. Gupta, the Contempt Petition is not-maintainable. In so far as the disclosure policy dated 30.11.2016 is concerned, he argued that the said policy is superseded and no complaint can be filed against the implementation of the disclosure policy as the said policy does not exist. Moreover, Mr. Gupta submitted that issuance of the said ....
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....s therein has to be furnished. There is a specific reference to the inspection reports and the other materials, which were directed to be given to the Respondents therein. The only exception that was carved out by this Court is in paragraph 77 of the judgment, particularly, information which has a bearing on the security of the State etc. We are not persuaded to accept the submission of Mr. Gupta that the judgment dated 16.12.2015 requires reconsideration as we cannot consider the said submission while deciding the contempt petitions. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, judgment was reserved in this case on 02.04.2019. The new disclosure policy was uploaded on the RBI website on 12.04.2019. Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, learned counse....