Supreme Court to examine if defaulters' names can be made public

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will examine if the Reserve Bank of India and the Centre could take shelter behind the confidentiality clause in the RBI Act for holding back the names of defaulters of loans. Expressing serious concern after going through the confidential report submitted by the RBI, the apex court bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice R. Banumathi said that the amount of total default is "very large" and wondered whether the information can be made public. Having expressed its serious concern and asking whether the information submitted to the court by the RBI could be made public, the court asked counsel Prashant Bhushan to frame the question that would be addressed by the court on the next hearing. "You can formulate the issues and we will hear them," the court asked Bhushan. It asked Bhushan to frame the questions, as in a pointed question to RBI counsel, if not the names of the defaulters, the total amount in default could be made public. However, RBI counsel told the court that "these are aggregate figures (and their disclosure) will have an impact on the economy". "Having decided to examine the larger issue, the court issued notice to the finance ministry and Indian Banks Association. The matter would come up for hearing on April 26.