Supreme Court dismisses SBI's electoral bonds plea, orders to disclose details by March 12
The Supreme Court on Monday junked the State Bank of India’s plea seeking an extension till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties. A five-member Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked the SBI to submit the required data within the close of March 12 (Tuesday) business hours.
FollowThe Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an application of State Bank of India (SBI) seeking an extension of time till June 30 to submit details of electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India. The apex court ordered SBI to disclose the details of electoral bonds by the close of business hours on March 12. The poll body has been instructed to post the information on its website by Friday at 5 p.m.
In addition, the court warned to hold the government-run bank in contempt if it failed to produce the requested documents by tomorrow.
Earlier, the Supreme Court raised specific queries and demanded to know what the bank had been doing for the last 26 days after considering SBI's request for extra time to submit information of the now-canceled scheme.
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Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who led the five-judge Constitution bench, noted that it was submitted that the donor details were kept in sealed cover in a Mumbai branch of the bank. "You have to just open the sealed cover, collate the details, and give the information," stated Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The Chief Justice then inquired as to what the bank had accomplished in the 26 days following the ruling, noting that the bank had not supplied this data.
The Supreme Court declared the electoral bond scheme illegal on February 15. It instructed the SBI to provide the EC with information on every electoral bond acquisition made from April 12, 2019, by March 6. It further mandated that by March 13, this data be posted on the EC website.
On March 4, however, SBI requested an extension from the Court, pointing out that the procedure was "time-consuming" because of the contributors' confidentiality rules. The ADR’s contempt petition termed the SBI’s plea for extension as "mala fide" and accused the bank of deliberately delaying disclosure to shield donor identities before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections
