“In a move that may discourage firms from defaulting on bank loans, the Supreme Court has allowed lenders to publish names and photographs of wilful defaulters in newspapers in the larger public interest. The apex court said that the decision to resort to this measure would be taken by officers of the rank of general managers and above.
By giving the ruling on the matter, a bench headed by justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla upheld the Bombay High Court’s November 2013 order that allowed State Bank of India (SBI) to publish names and photographs of directors and guarantors of Mumbai-based defaulter firm DJ Exim (India) in newspapers on the grounds that Rule 8 framed under the Securitisation Act specifically authorised the banks to publish the names and addresses of wilful defaulters and there is also no legal bar that prohibits them from publishing such information. The SC accepted the bank’s stand that the move does not violate the defaulter’s right to privacy as the same is not absolute. From the bank’s point of view, the duty to maintain secrecy is superseded by a larger public interest as well as by the bank’s own interest under certain circumstances, it held.”
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Source: The Financial Express , July 17, 2014. (Full Text of the judgment yet to receive)
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