In Brief
Banks challenged RBI's directions to disclose confidential information under the Right to Information Act. An earlier Supreme Court judgment (Jayantilal N. Mistry) had held such disclosure permissible. The banks argued the writ petitions were not maintainable given the earlier judgment. The Court dismissed this objection, holding that while finality of judgments is important, the doctrine of ex debito justitiae (doing justice) permits reconsideration when: the earlier judgment failed to balance the right to information against the right to privacy; the later petitioners were not parties to the earlier case; and they had no other remedy. The Court held the writ petitions were maintainable and the preliminary objection was rejected.
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