In a landmark ruling on electoral bonds, the Supreme Court has issued a stern rebuke to the State Bank of India (SBI). During the hearing on Monday, the court in a firm tone ordered that all information must be shared by SBI's chairman by Thursday evening (March 21) by 5 PM. This includes filing an affidavit stating compliance. The court also directed that once the Election Commission receives the information from SBI, it should immediately upload it on their website.
The Supreme Court emphasised that there should be no concealment in this matter. Everything is to be publicised. During the hearing, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) questioned SBI for not providing complete information. The CJI stated, 'It was clear in the decision that all details should be disclosed. There should be nothing selective. Do not rely on court orders. Every imaginable piece of information must be made public. SBI is obligated to comply with the orders of the Supreme Court.'
'SBI did not provide bond numbers'
SBI's lawyer Harish Salve commented, 'I mention this in terms of how we interpreted the order. We only requested time to share the information systematically.' To this, CJI Justice Chandrachud replied that a notice had been issued to SBI in the previous hearing because it was ordered to provide all the information, but SBI failed to provide the bond numbers. 'SBI must comply with the entire order. Ensure all unique alphanumeric numbers of the bonds are available to the Election Commission. We make this clear,' added the CJI.
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The CJI described a letter from the SCBA president as a publicity stunt and expressed the need for complete transparency regarding the electoral bonds handled by SBI. 'If bonds were being redeemed, how could we know they aren’t fake?' the CJI questioned. On this, Salve replied that they verify the amount of money.
Attorney General's plea leads to CJI cautioning against argumentation
On behalf of the Centre, Solicitor General Mukul Rohatgi claimed the court's decision is being interpreted differently outside the courtroom, leading to controversies, including those fueled by social media, regarding the disbursement of funds. To this, the CJI stated, 'Your arguments are not necessary at the moment.'
Read more: 'We received 6000 crores, others got 14000 crores', says Shah on electoral bonds
A hidden agenda behind electoral bonds: SG
During the hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan pointed out that the court had asked for information from political parties regarding bonds since April 2019, but only a few have shared the data. SG implied that there is a hidden agenda. The CJI responded that discussing matters from 2018 would review decisions that they aren’t prepared to reexamine. 'We are not here for a review petition hearing,' stated the CJI.
Read more: Akhilesh Yadav targets BJP, calling electoral bonds a BJP guarantee to legitimize black money
Data prior to 2019 also released!
It is important to note that the Election Commission recently made public the details of electoral bonds submitted by political parties within sealed covers, believed to be related to the period before April 12, 2019. Details of electoral bonds post that date were made public last week by the election panel. The commission in a statement said the data was submitted by the parties as per the directives of the Supreme Court's interim order dated April 12, 2019.
