RESERVE BANK OF INDIA versus JAYANTILAL N. MISTRY

Citation: [2015] 14 S.C.R. 505 · Decided: 16-12-2015 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: M.Y. EQBAL · Disposal: Dismissed
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2015] 14S.C.R. 505 
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA 
v. 
JAYANTILAL N. MISTRY 
(Transferred Case (Civil) No. 91 of 2015) 
DECEMBER 16, 2015 
[M. Y. EQBAL AND C. NAGAPPAN, JJ.] 
A 
B 
Right To Information Act, 2005-ss.2(f), 8(1)(a), (d), (e) 
and 10(1)- Information under the Act- To what extent can 
be given - Whether can be denied to the public, by Reserve C 
Bank of India on the ground of economic interest, commercial 
confidence and fiduciary relationship with other Banks - Held: 
The ideal of 'Government by the people' makes it necessary 
that people have access to information on matters of public 
concern - Therefore, right to information has been made as D 
one of the fundamental rights u/Art. 19 of the Constitution 
and also 2005 Act has been brought into effect- However, 
neither the fundamental right nor the right to.information are 
absolute - Therefore, all the information that the Government 
generates is not required to be given out to the public- Thus, E 
RBI cannot be put in a fix, by making it accountable to every 
action taken by it - However, in the present case RBI is 
accountable - The disclosure of information sought for does 
not go against the economic interest of the nation - RBI being 
a statutory regulatory body has the statutory duty to uphold F 
the interest of public at large and not of other Banks - Thus, 
there is no relationship of 'trust' I 'fiduciary relationship' 
between RBI and other Banks - Even if it is held that RBI . 
had fiduciary relationship with other Banks, s.2(f) would still 
make the information .shared between them to be accessible G 
· by the public- RBI is duty bound to comply with the provisions 
of the Act thus bound to provide information u/s. 10(1 ). 
Words and Phrases- 'Fiduciary relationship' - Meaning 
of, in the context of s.8(1 )(e) of Right to Information Act, 2005. 
H 
505 
506 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2015] 14 S.C.R. 
A 
Dismissing the matters, the Court 
B 
HELD: 1. The Central Information Commissioner 
has passed the impugned orders giving valid reasons 
and the said orders, therefore, need no interference by 
this Court. [Para 82][564-F] 
2.1 Fiduciary relationship is "a relationship in which 
one person is under a duty to act for the benefit of the 
other on the matters within the scope of the fiduciary 
relationship. Fiduciary relationship usually arise in one 
c of the lour situations (1) when one person places trust 
in the. faithful integrity of another, who as a result gains 
superiority or influence over the first, (2) when one 
person assumes control and responsibility over another, 
(3) when one person has a duty to act or give advice to 
0 
another on matters falling within the scope of the 
relationship, or (4) when there is specific relationship that 
has traditionally be recognized as involving fiduciary 
duties, as with a lawyer and a client, or a .stockbroker 
and a customer." [Para 55][549-H] 
E 
Central Board of Secondary Education and Anr. 
vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay and Ors. 2011 (11) SCR 
1028: (2011) 8 sec 497 - relied on. 
2.2 RBI is a statutory body set up by the RBI Act as 
India's Central Bank. It is a statutory regulatory authority 
F to oversee the functioning of the banks and the country's 
banking sector. Under Section 35A of the Banking 
Regulation Act, RBI has been given powers to issue any 
direction to the banks in public interest, in the interest of 
banking policy and to secure proper management of a 
G banking company. It has several other "far-reaching 
statutory powers. [Para 59][554-F·G] 
. 2.3 RBI has no legal duty to maximize the benefit of 
any public sector or private sector bank, and thus there 
H is no relationship of 'trust' between them. RBI has a 
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA v. JAYANTILAL N. MISTRY 
507 
statutory duty to uphold the interest of the public at large, A 
the depositors, the country's economy and the banking 
sector. Thus, RBI ought to act with transparency and not 
hide information that might embarrass individual banks. 
It is duty bound to comply with the provisions of the RTI 
Act and disclose the information sought by the B 
respondents. [Para 60)[554-H; 555-A-B] 
2.4 The RBI does not place itself in a fiduciary 
relationship with the Financial institutions because, the 
reports of the inspections, statements of the bank, 
information related to the business obtained by the RBI C 
are not under the pretext of confidence or trust. In this 
case neither the RBI nor the Banks act in the interest of 
each other
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