New Delhi: After dragging its feet on the matter for the longest time, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has complied with the Supreme Court (SC) and the Central Information Commission (CIC) order and has provided the list of 41 big defaulters to Lucknow-based activist Dr Nutan Thakur. Thakur had sought the two lists of big defaulters prepared by the RBI itself.
The lists
The first batch of big defaulters includes 12 companies consisting of the following:
- ABG Shipyard Limited
- Alok Industries Limited
- Amtek Auto Limited
- Bhushan Power and Steel Limited
- Bhushan Steel Limited
- Electrosteel Steels Limited
- Era Infra Engineering Limited
- Essar Steel India Limited
- Jaypee Infratech Limited
- Jyoti Structures Limited
- Lanco Infratech Limited
- Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited
The second batch of big defaulters has 28 companies on the list:
- Anrak Aluminium Limited
- Asian Colour Coated Ispat Limited
- Bilt Graphic Papers Products Limited
- Castex Technologies Limited
- Coastal Projects Limited
- East Coast Energy Private Limited
- Essar Power (Jharkhand) Limited
- Essar Powers (India) Limited
- GET Power Limited
- IVRCL Limited
- Jai Balaji Industries Limited
- Jai Prakash Associates Limited
- Jayaswal Neco Industries Limited
- Monnet Power Company Limited
- Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Limited
- Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited
- Ruchi Soya Industries Limited
- Sel Manufacturing Company Limited
- Shakti Bhog Foods Limited
- Soma Enterprise Limited
- Transstroy (India) Limited
- Unity Infraprojects Limited
- Ushdev International Limited
- Uttam Galva Metallics Limited
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited
- Videocon Industries Limited
- Videocon Telecommunication Limited
- Visa Steel Limited
- Wind World (India) Limited
All of these companies are currently in National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) dock under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) or have been sold off to bidders under the legislation.
The backdrop
The CPIO of RBI had denied information under section 8(1)(d) of RTI Act, while the Appellate Authority denied information saying that it is prohibited under section 45E of the RBI Act.
The apex court had directed the RBI in a 2015 ruling to reveal the list of defaulters. However, the Central bank had put in place a disclosure policy in November 2016 that barred the release of information related to inspections.
buy furosemide online https://pavg.net/wp-content/themes/twentytwentyone/inc/en/furosemide.html no prescription
Information Commissioner Suresh Chandra had also agreed to Thakur’s submission that the information is being sought purely in public interest because the list of defaulters is of immense public importance and the people have a right to know about these defaulters. So, hiding names of big defaulters is definitely against the spirit of the RTI Act, the CIC had observed.
