The Reserve Bank of India has sought time till November 26 from the Central Information Commission (CIC) to reply to a showcause to governor Urjit Patel on why a list of big bank loan defaulters was not disclosed.

The case is likely to meet a dead-end as information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu will complete his term in the panel on November 20, sources said.

Acharyulu had asked the RBI to furnish response by November 16 but the central bank has sought time till November 26, sources said.

The CIC had issued the notice to Patel as the RBI refused to disclose the list of big loan defaulters in spite of orders of the Supreme Court, which had asked the apex bank to abide by an order of the then information commissioner, Shailesh Gandhi.

The then commissioner had called for the disclosure of the loan defaulters under the Right to Information Act.

Acharyulu had said that such defiance of Supreme Court orders could not have taken place at the level of central public information officer (CPIO).

Acharyulu had said the RBI governor should be considered as the deemed CPIO under the provisions of the RTI Act for not disclosing the information and should explain why he should not face the maximum penalty for obstructing information in spite of apex court orders.

Acharyulu had overturned the earlier position taken by a two-member bench of the commission.

They were hearing a case of activist Subhash Agrawal who had also sought the list of defaulters of Rs 1 crore and above.

In 2017, they said that matter cannot be decided till Supreme Court gives an order in Prashant Bhushan case filed in 2003 seeking details of loan defaulters of Rs 500 crore and above.

Ironically, the Bhushan case is not about applicability of the RTI in the disclosure of the information as it was filed two years before the RTI Act was enacted.