The Supreme Court directed the State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday to make complete disclosure of all details related to electoral bonds. The court said the details should include the alpha-numeric unique number and serial numbers if any.
The Supreme Court added that the SBI chairman must file an affidavit by 5 pm on March 21 (Thursday), indicating that the bank has disclosed all details of electoral bonds. During the hearing, the Supreme Court pulled up the SBI for being “selective”.
The electoral bonds case was heard by a five-judge Constitution bench — constituting Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra — on Monday. The judges heard the case where it sought a reply from SBI as to why electoral bond numbers were not disclosed.
Here’s what the Supreme Court said in its March 18 ruling:
1. The Supreme Court bench that the SBI has not fully complied with its March 11 order in which it had ordered the bank to disclose all details concerning Electoral Bonds. It said the SBI can’t be selective in disclosure.
“We had asked all details to be disclosed by the SBI which includes electoral bond numbers as well. Let SBI not be selective in disclosure, do not wait for orders. We believe that the SBI will be candid and fair to the court,” CJI Chandrachud was quoted by Bar and Bench as saying.
2. CJI Chandrachud directed the SBI to provide details of electoral bonds purchased and political parties who received contributions through Electoral Bonds from April 12, 2019, Bar and Bench reported.
The Supreme Court ordered: “This Court had directed disclosure of information on Electoral Bonds scheme to give a logical and complete end to the proceedings and thus issued operative directions in para b and c of the judgment. Para b requires SBI to furnish details of EB purchases from April 12, 2019, till the date of judgment. It shall include name, denomination etc. In para c, we sought directions of political parties who received funding through electoral bonds and SBI was to disclose details of each bond encashed by political parties including date of such encashment….”
On electoral bonds number, the Supreme court said, “There is no manner of doubt that SBI shall make disclosure of all information with it and it shall include the details of electoral bond numbers or the alpha numeric numbers with it.” A distinct alphanumeric code, assigned to each bond, will help in correlating electoral bond donors with the respective recipient parties.
3. The Supreme Court rejected the Centre’s claim that its verdict striking down the Electoral Bonds scheme is being misused and misinterpreted on social media. The CJI said, “As judges, we are only on the rule of law and work as per the Constitution. Our court is only to work for the governance of the rule of law in this polity. As judges, we are also discussed in social media but our shoulders are broad enough to take this…”
4. CJI Chandrachud rebuked Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and Senior Advocate Adish Aggarwala for his letter seeking suo motu review of the Electoral Bonds judgment.
“Apart from being a senior counsel, you are president of SCBA. You have written a letter asking me to invoke my suo motu powers. These are all publicity-related, we will not get into this. Do not make me say anything more…,” the CJI was quoted as saying when Aggarwala sought to mention his letter before the bench.
5. The Supreme Court also gave the SBI chairman a deadline and asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to upload details. “We direct the SBI chairman to submit an affidavit at 5 pm, Thursday stating that no information has been withheld from disclosure in terms of directions given in para 221. ECI shall upload the details forthwith once it receives the data from SBI,” Bar and Bench reported while citing the Supreme Court order.
Electoral Bonds case
The Supreme Court scrapped the Electoral Bond Scheme on February 15. It also asked the SBI and the Election Commission of India to share details of donors and political parties that received funding in form of electoral bonds. Introduced in 2017, the scheme allowed people to make any amount of donation to political parties of their choice while maintaining anonymity.
