The Central Information Commission (CIC) will soon have to decide whether a body set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), whose principal task is of restructuring corporate loans, falls under the public scrutiny through Right to Information (RTI) act.
The Corporate Debt Restructuring Cell (CDRC) set up by the RBI has refused to provide details of total amount sacrificed by public sector banks as a part of CDR packages and also the mechanism by which it was approved to an application under the RTI.
In its reply to former CIC and RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi, who had sought the information, the CDRC has said that it does not fall under the category of ‘public authority’ as it is neither owned, controlled or substantially financed by directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate government.
Subsequently, Mr. Gandhi’s first appeal too was rejected and he had now gone in to second appeal with the office of CIC. The appeal said that the CDRC website shows that it has restructured corporate debt of Rs. 3.7 lakh crore for 505 customers — an average of Rs. 668 crore per customer. It is also claimed in the appeal that 80 to 90 per cent of the restructuring is of borrowers from Public Sector banks.
“The CDR cell has been created by a RBI circular. Despite having 38 members who are public sector banks and institutions and only 14 private sector banks it claims an independent status. Five of its seven core group members are public sector employees and 13 of its 19 employees are also employees who are getting their salaries from public sector banks,” said the application by Mr. Gandhi.
While the CDRC in its reply to the first appeal did not dispute these numbers, it implied that the bank officers are not government servants.
He added that the initial finance of the CDRC was provided by IDBI, a public sector bank and much over 75 per cent of subsequent finance is from public sector banks and institution.
“It does not appear to have any legal structure and despite being created by a RBI circular, claims a virtual presence not accountable to anyone. If such an argument is accepted, all government organisations could create such virtual cells and deny information and accountability,” he said.
