It seems no one is culpable for the Rs 13,600-crore PNB scam. After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley quipped that the RBI should have kept its “third eye” open, RBI Governor Urjit Patel has struck back with an invocation of Lord Shiva. To save the banking sector, he says, he is prepared to be the “Neelakantha” who did not hesitate to drink poison to save gods in their war against with demons. The fact is that both the FM and the RBI Governor want to disown the baby. The government, which owns more than 57 per cent of PNB, runs the bank and the Finance Minister is the administrative ministry of all government-promoted banks. The Finance Minister is assisted by an elaborate bureaucratic system. On the other hand, the PNB board has adequate representation from RBI, the banking sector regulator. Therefore the ownership and responsibility of both Jaitley and Patel is evident and they need to join hands to strengthen the system to avoid such lapses in future.The Governor’s delayed response that RBI “also feels the anger, hurt and pain”, was disheartening. Instead of an emotional outburst, the country, expects the regulator to take definitive actions against errant officials. Recently, former RBI Governor YV Reddy had said that “excessive exposure to specific industries, relaxed limits on group exposure, over-leverage of corporates, delayed recognition of NPAs and corruption” are part of the regulatory failures. Auditors as the extended arm of the RBI are expected to detect these lapses. needs to immediately review their roles and responsibilities. Governor Patel also tried to justify the RBI’s lapses by citing seven systemic obstacles. He holds a position, which is lofty enough to persuade the government to amend existing laws to strengthen the banking system. It is surprising that the Governor finds it expedient to regulate private banks as compared to the public sector banks (PSBs). That should not be the excuse to privatise PSBs. Instead, the government should make necessary amendments to the existing Acts and create a level-playing field for both public and private sector banks.