RTI reveals Canara Bank wrote off bad loans worth Rs 47,000 crore in 8 years

Agencies

October 21, 2020

New Delhi, Oct 21: Canara Bank has written off bad loans worth thousands of crores of rupees and recovered paltry amounts from big defaulters. According to a report in Money Life, like other PSBs, Canara Bank also refused to share this information as well as names of defaulters under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

As per the report, data shared by Pune-based RTI activist Vivek Velankar shows that during the past eight-year period from FY12-13 to FY19-20, Canara Bank wrote off a total of Rs 47,310 crore while recovering just 19 per cent or Rs 8,901 crore from defaulters.

The report said Canara Bank too used vague reasons of privacy for not sharing information like names of big defaulters with a bad loan of Rs 100 crore and above.

In the reply to the RTI, the bank says, "Information sought is the personal information of the concerned and if disclosed would invade the privacy of those concerned and its disclosure does not have any relationship with public interest or activity and is exempted under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act."

Velankar, who is also president of the Sajag Nagrik Manch, asks, "When a common borrower defaults, the same banks publish his name and all details through advertisements in newspapers. Then why do they want to keep names of big defaulters hidden under the privacy cause? Why doesn't the 'privacy' clause apply while publicising names of common borrowers?"

In several judgements, the Central Information Commission (CIC) had ruled that to qualify for the exemption under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, the information must satisfy certain criteria, such as personal information and public interest.

The report said ordinarily, the adjective 'personal' is attributed to that which applies to an individual and not to an institution or a corporate. Therefore, it flows that 'personal' cannot be related to institutions, organisations or corporates, especially publicly listed entities with a large shareholding of retail investors.

Hence, Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act cannot be applied when the information concerns institutions, organisations or corporates.

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Mangaluru: Notorious serial killer arrested for murder of youth aboard train

News Network

November 28,2024

Mangaluru, Nov 28: In a major breakthrough, police have arrested Rahul, alias Bol Karmaveer Eshwar Jat, a Haryana native, for a brutal train murder committed on October 25. Rahul, a notorious interstate serial offender, was apprehended after a relentless investigation involving multiple state police forces.

The October 25 incident occurred during a train journey when Rahul got into an argument over a cigarette with Mauzzam, a resident of Chikkaballapur. The altercation escalated, leading to Rahul strangling Mauzzam to death. He fled the scene with the victim’s mobile phone, bag, and cash.

Muazzan worked as a sales representative and was differently-abled. He boarded the train on October 24 from Yesvantpur and occupied the Divyang Coach. The incident came to light on the morning of October 25 at Udupi, where a railway guard found Muazzam unresponsive. The railway police immediately rushed him to the hospital, but doctors declared him dead.

Accused Rahul was tracked down through an exhaustive review of over 2,000 CCTV recordings by police teams from Valsad, Vapi, Surat, and Udvada. His identity was eventually confirmed by a vigilant officer from Surat Central Jail, leading to his capture in a joint operation by Railway and Surat police.

Rahul’s criminal record reveals a trail of horrifying offenses across Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, and West Bengal. Among these are the rape of a mentally ill minor girl in Pune and the rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman near Udvada railway station in Gujarat's Vapi district. Despite being arrested in the past, Rahul resumed his crimes after securing bail.

On November 19, he allegedly stabbed a 60-year-old man to death aboard the Katihar Express in West Bengal, with a case registered at the Howrah police station. In Telangana, he confessed to murdering a woman in yet another shocking crime.

Public Advisory:

Stay vigilant when traveling on trains, especially during late hours.
Report suspicious individuals or activities to railway authorities immediately.
Ensure your personal belongings are secure while traveling.
This arrest brings a sense of relief, but the investigations continue as authorities piece together the full extent of Rahul’s crimes.

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