The Congress on Sunday asked why the Central Government was not giving a one-line directive to the RBI to disclose information about annual inspection report of banks and list of wilful loan defaulters.
The party's remarks came after the Supreme Court on Friday gave the banking regulator "a last opportunity" to reveal these details under the RTI Act.
"Under Banking Regulation Act and RBI Act, it takes Government of India 15 seconds to direct the RBI to disclose... There are specific provisions of 35A, 35B and 35AA (of Banking Regulation Act) that gives this power to the central Government...Why is the Government not giving a one-line simple directive to disclose," asked Congress spokesperson Abhishek Many Singhvi.
Addressing a press conference here, he said, "The Supreme Court directed in 2015 that you must disclose. After that for four long years, the RBI under the direction of this government, clearly wanting to hide things, has procrastinated, has obstructed and has derailed, has avoided, and has given excuses."
"Why is the RBI not disclosing...Is it protecting someone," he questioned.
Singhvi asked if the BJP was trying to protect "crony capitalists" whose names are in the list of RBI's wilful defaulters.
About wilful defaulters who are on the internal RBI list, he said, "Nobody is asking for them to be sent to jail. We are only asking for names...We (Congress) are not afraid of it, so why are you afraid?"
"We had told you a few weeks ago that within 5 years of this (BJP) government, the defaults and NPAs (non-performing assets) have increased...We ask the BJP to give information about all loan defaulters," he said.
On Friday, the top court made it clear that RBI was "duty-bound to furnish all information relating to inspection reports and other material" under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, except those which pertained to "matters of national economic interest".
On December 16, 2015, the apex court had asked the RBI to disclose such information under RTI Act. However, the regulator did not do so. Therefore, on Friday, the apex court said that the RBI is in "contempt of this court by exempting disclosure" of such information. However, the court granted RBI "a last opportunity" to rectify it.
Meanwhile, Singhvi also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's use of caste references during the election campaign is a sign of nervousness.