Dear Editor,
It refers to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) citing its age-old ‘privacy’ rules when it declined making names of bank-defaulters public under RTI Act. At a time of ever-increasing ‘Non-Performing-Assets’ (NPA) in form of unrecoverable bank-loans, RBI should adopt a policy of ‘name and shame’ by directing banks to make names of bank-defaulters public. Even bodies like Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) shames big defaulters of property-tax on hoardings put at road-crossings.
Banks should also put details of bad debts amounting to say rupees one crore and above on their websites. Making such details public will check tendency of pressure from top on public-sector banks for giving loans to undeserving ones. Such a policy will be much practical to recover bank-loans because of a much-desired fear-psychology being a developed amongst bank-defaulters because it will create practical hurdles for them to take loans from private parties. Making names public will save private parties from giving loans to defaulters thus also resulting in checking large number court-cases filed for loan-recoveries by individuals and private parties. Central Information Commission (CIC) in larger public-interest should decide petition against RBI in this regard on propriety basis.
SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL
1775 Kucha Lattushah
Dariba, Chandni Chowk
DELHI 110006 (India)
