Canara bank revealed the debt loan figures but denied revealing information on the defaulters by invoking a clause in the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
According to a Money Life report, Canara Bank has written off bad debts worth ₹ 1.29 lakh crore in the past 11 years, the public sector bank revealed in an RTI response.
The bank accumulated a total of ₹ 1,29,088 crore worth of bad debt from FY11-12 to FY21-22. It shared the information in reply to an RTI filed by Pune-based activist Vivek Velankar.
Canara bank revealed the debt loan figures but denied revealing information on the defaulters by invoking a clause in the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
“Information sought is the personal information of the borrowers, and its disclosure would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the concerned and which is exempted from disclosure under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act,” the central public information officer (CPIO) of Canara Bank wrote in the RTI reply.
Mr. Velankar, in his RTI, sought details on the total amount written off for borrowers whose loans exceeded ₹ 100 crores. But, refusing to divulge the information, the bank replied that “information sought is not maintained in the manner sought for”, according to the report.
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As per section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act, “information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual, unless the CPIO or SPIO or the Appellate Authority is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information should be exempted from disclosure.”
In his other query, the activist questioned the bank about the total amount written off by it for bad loans of ₹ 1 crore and less. In response to this, the report added that Canara Bank shared the information on the total outstanding amount of the borrowers from FY11-12 to FY21-22.
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