Posted on 24th August, 2024 (GMT 13.30 hrs)
Updated on 12th October, 2024 (GMT 16:20 hrs)
ABSTRACT
The article discusses an RTI application filed with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, questioning the accountability of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). The RTI seeks detailed information on the expenditure and funds reserved for litigation by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) in the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) case. It criticizes the RBI and IBBI for their inability to provide this information, raising concerns about transparency.
We filed an RTI application (CAGIN/R/E/24/02309) to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on 24th August, 2024. Given below is the text of the same:
Kindly inform me regarding the total expenditure (with break up) in the RBI-appointed Committee of Creditors for the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).
With reference to the above, please also inform me with regards to the following:
- The amount of money reserved for the resolution professionals belonging to the CoC for DHFL for the purpose of future expenditure in litigation purposes.
- The source of this money for future expenditure in the court of law.
Please answer in precise and specific terms, satisfying the aforementioned queries. Please do not refer to any online documents since I am not a tech-savvy person.
These questions were previously asked to the RBI as well as the IBBI. However, they were unable to retrieve the information so requested for unstated reasons.
We sincerely hope that the Honourable CAG will fulfil its motto of “truth in public interest”!
The above application was sent with a covering letter to the CAG’s mail-id and was forwarded to the CJI, the Finance Minister, the IBBI, the ICAI and the RBI Governor.
UPDATE (30/08/2024): THE RBI’S EMAIL RESPONSE
Interestingly enough, the RBI has replied on 30.08.2024 to this email of ours, saying that the issue does not concern itself. So, what’s its role as “an “the” apex bank? Does it simply want to blindly witness the Indian Economy crumble, while it stays asleep on sleeping pills, the effect of which cannot be eradicated with RTIs or emails such as these? What kind of stand is that? It has also been said in the email by the RBI that it has transferred the case to the National Housing Bank (NHB)! Now, let’s wait and see what unfolds!
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UPDATE (30/08/2024): THE HORRIBLE GAME OF TRANSFERS
On 27th August, the CAG transferred the above RTI Application to the Department of Financial Services vide new registration number(s) DOFSR/R/T/24/01316 respectively.
On the very next day, i.e., on 28th August, the same application was again transferred to the Reserve Bank of India vide new registration number(s) RBIND/R/T/24/00826 respectively.
However, this “transfer game” did not end with that alone. On 29th August, the very same RTI was again transferred to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) vide new registration number(s) ISBBI/R/T/24/00020 respectively.
One is very much likely to ask: What is going on here? Why are these so-called “authorities”, instead of answering these questions (which are supposed to be on retrievable public record) simply playing this nasty politics of mute non-responsiveness? What are they trying to hide? Who are they trying to protect? This is admittedly a horrible state of affairs for the “Mother of Democracy”, viz., India, in which these “public” authorities are anything but responsible or accountable to the public interest queries. No wonder so many cases are pending in the court of law, no wonder journalists are arrested for defending free speech, no wonder that the major media houses are state-corporate stooges…
UPDATE (24/09/2024): THE CONSTANT REFUSALS
On 24th September, 2024, we received a “reply” from the FAA that stated:
a) Our queries do not fall under the definition of “information” as per Section 2(f) the RTI Act by citing legal precedents.
b) Moreover, “CPIO is not supposed to create information or interpret/clarify/deduct information in respect of queries/clarifications.” (…) The RTI authority cannot reply in cases which “…require drawing of inference and/or making of assumptions; or to interpret information; or to solve the problems raised by the applicants; or to furnish replies to hypothetical questions.”
Thereof, it concluded: “The Respondent is not bound to respond to such inquisitions under the RTI Act.”
Given below is the full response:
To this reply that is nothing more than deliberate avoidance, we would like to say a few points:
a) Why did it take more than a month for the given RTI authority to respond to our queries? If the said questions do not fall under the RTI Act, why did it not immediately state the same outright? What took it so long? Is it trying to hide something valuable?
b) Our queries were far from being “hypothetical” and did not at all require “creating” new information per se. The questions asked were to-the-point, and pertained to the RBI and IBBI’s existent “PUBLIC” records with regard to a very recent insolvency case that directly falls under their bounds. What is the concerned authority trying to avoid? Is it under political pressures from the ruling party?
Given these points, we would again like to state our frustration and irritation with the state of RTI in India, the basic provisions of which are being undermined by the crony theocratic agencies of the BJP. All the institutional legitimacies are being compromised in order to pave the way to Saffron Fascist forces’ whims. We are saddened, enraged and highly disturbed to witness this kind of state of affairs!
UPDATE (12/10/2024):
On 3rd October, 2024, a reply came from the IBBI under the registration number ISBBI/R/T/24/00020, which is given as follows:
Basically, the IBBI once again stated: The data sought is not maintained by the Board in the manner as sought by the applicant.
Why are they maintaining this secrecy from time and again? Where can one find the information that is allegedly retained for public access? We are utterly frustrated, disillusioned, and disheartened by the current state of the RTI.
Once in a Blue Moon Academia 
I lost my savings, was it because I was a knave and unlettered to rely on AAA rating, NHB guarantee, RBI approval, auditor’s report that made it look like DHFL deposits were a good investment? Was I wrong to invest my life savings to earn interest to meet my daily expenses in a company that had all approvals?
The primary business of DHFL was housing loans, the land or the house being the collateral guarantee, never turned bad. So what went wrong? No business loss that could be borne by the creditors but fraud and conspiracy committed in connivance with the statutory regulatory bodies which resulted in siphoning of funds. A standalone fictitious branch operated in broad daylight is testimony to the utter failure of the economic and legal enforcing authorities or is it they were hands in gloves? How did this criminal negligence and conspiracy go unnoticed and unpunished? Why shouldn’t they compensate for the loss that occurred due to their incompetence? It is a cruel paradox that while receivables (loan repayment ) are not affected, the investors were treated with a fatal 77% haircut.
No, it was not our wrong decision to invest in DHFL, it was criminals that robbed our money – and our protectors are busy picking the spoils to fill their pockets.
The conscience of the government is dead.
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