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14. The provisions of Special enactments, viz., Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 requiring confidentiality cannot be said to be impliedly repealed by the RTI Act, 2005. This because RTI Act, 2005 is a general legislation on disclosure of information and by applying the established rules of interpretation one has to say that the provisions in that enactment cannot be said to have the effect of repealing all other specialized legislations relating to confidentiality. The Hon'ble CIC has in P.K. Saha v. D.B. Janotkar, General Manager (A & EE) & PIO, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (CIC decision dated 17.08.2007) observed as follows:

Although the Right to Information Act has been given an overriding effect, yet it does not mean that all previous legislations concerning disclosure of information stand impliedly repealed. In fact there is always a presumption against such repeal by implication. The RTI Act expressly overrides the provisions of the Official Secrets Act. A repeal by implication is to be inferred only when the provisions of a later Act are so inconsistent with, or repugnant to, the provisions of the earlier Act that the two cannot co-exist.."

15. It is respectfully submitted that Section 45E of the RBI Act relating to the confidentiality of credit information does not stand impliedly repealed by the provisions of Section 22 of the RTI Act.

16. It is submitted that RBI has put in place a mechanism for sharing of both suit filed and non-suit filed accounts related information beyond a specified threshold, amongst banks and financial institutions. This is in tune with the provisions of Section 45E of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Moreover, the Credit Information and (Regulation) Act, 2005 allows access of information relating to creditworthiness to credit institutions from Credit Information Companies, when a prospective borrower approaches them with a request for financial accommodation. Thus, it cannot be construed that non- disclosure of such information would result in more bad loans in the banking system. In effect, though the information about defaults are not shared with the public by RBI, efficient system has been put in place for disseminating the CIC/DGEAT/A/2018/117567 Page 13 default status of borrowers amongst credit institutions so that they can take informed decisions in request for credit.

j) The provisions of Special enactments, viz., Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 requiring confidentiality cannot be said to be impliedly repealed by the RTI Act, 2005. This is because RTI Act, 2005 is a general legislation on disclosure of information and by applying the established rules of interpretation one has to say that the provisions in that enactment cannot be said to have the effect of repealing all other specialized legislations relating to confidentiality. He also relied upon 2007 decision of P.K. Saha v. D.B. Janotkar, General Manager (A & EE) & PIO, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd.