Reserve Bank Of India Vs. Jayantilal N. Mistry
|
Head Note
Civil Law - Right to Information
Right to Information Act, 2005, Section 2(1)(f), 8(1)(e) - Exemption - Exemption contained in Section 8(1)(e) applies to exceptional cases and only with regard to certain pieces of information, for which disclosure is unwarranted or undesirable - If information is available with a regulatory agency not in fiduciary relationship, there is no reason to withhold the disclosure of the same - However, where information is required by mandate of law to be provided to an authority, it cannot be said that such information is being provided in a fiduciary relationship - Financial institutions have an obligation to provide all the information to the RBI and such an information shared under an obligation/ duty cannot be considered to come under the purview of being shared in fiduciary relationship - One of the main characteristic of a Fiduciary relationship is "Trust and Confidence" - Something that RBI and the Banks lack between them - Central Information Commissioner has passed the impugned orders giving valid reasons and the said orders, therefore, need no interference by this Court.
Civil Law - Right to Information
Right to Information Act, 2005, Section 2(1)(f), 8(1)(e) - Fiduciary Relationship - Denial of information sought - RBI is supposed to uphold public interest and not the interest of individual banks - RBI is clearly not in any fiduciary relationship with any bank - RBI has no legal duty to maximize the benefit of any public sector or private sector bank, and thus there is no relationship of 'trust' between them - RBI has a statutory duty to uphold the interest of the public at large, the depositors, the country's economy and the banking sector - Thus, RBI ought to act with transparency and not hide information that might embarrass individual banks - It is duty bound to comply with the provisions of the RTI Act and disclose the information sought by the respondents.
Topic(s)-Right to Information - Exemption - Law Clarified