Illustration: Binay Sinha
The Supreme Court on Monday heavily criticized the State Bank of India (SBI) for seeking more time to furnish details of electoral bonds, telling the lender to submit the information to the Election Commission before the close of business hours in March. India (ECI) had to announce. 12, Tuesday.
With this, SBI’s plea seeking extension till June 30, 2024, to provide details of electoral bonds for the period from April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024, has been rejected.
The ECI would publish the details on its website on March 15 at 5 p.m.
The court asked the bank how much work had been done so far to comply with the February 15 judgment.
“Today is March 11th. To what extent have you done matching in the past 26 days? The statement is silent on this. We expect a certain level of candor from the State Bank of India,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for SBI, said the bank found it difficult to match donor data with repayment data as it was stored in separate information silos.
In response, CJI Chandrachud pointed out that the court did not require the bank to conduct a “matching exercise” but simply make the information public. The CJI noted that the bank had all the necessary details as reflected in its KYC records.
“I’m not saying we don’t have the details,” Salve told the court. “We were told this would be secret. That’s how we came up with the mechanism. We don’t want to cause major damage by making a mistake…’ Salve argued.
The court had on February 15 ordered SBI, the bank that processes electoral bonds, to immediately stop issuing them and share the names of the buyers, the value of the bonds and their recipients with the ECI by March 6, asking the latter to announce these details before March 13.
However, days before the deadline, the bank applied for an extension until June 30, after the general election, saying that “decoding” the election letters and matching the donor with the donation would be a complex process.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard SBI’s application along with a contempt petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) against SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara.
Common Cause and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had also filed contempt pleas against the public sector bank for not making the details public.
The court warned the bank that it would take action against her for “willfully disobeying orders” if she did not comply with its latest directions.
“The State Bank of India shall file an affidavit of its Chairman and Managing Director regarding compliance with the directions given above. While we are not inclined to exercise contempt jurisdiction at this time, we put it on notice to the State Bank of India that this court may be inclined to proceed against it for willful disobedience if it does not adhere to the timelines indicated in this order. the order said.
The five-judge Bench has asked the ECI to publish details of the information provided to the court under its interim order on the commission’s website. In this interim order, issued in November last year, the court had asked the ECI to furnish details of funds received by all political parties through electoral bonds till September 30 in a sealed cover.
“Whatever the Election Commission of India has presented to us, we will open it. Under an interim order, the Election Commission had provided details. The clerk’s office has placed it in secure custody. We will direct them to open it right now,” CJI Chandrachud said during the hearing.
The Supreme Court on February 15 struck down the electoral bond scheme, calling it “unconstitutional” and “arbitrary”.
The court found that the scheme infringed on citizens’ right to information about possible quid pro quo arrangements, and ruled that an amendment to Section 182 of the Companies Act, which allowed Indian companies to donate any amount to a political party, was unconstitutional.
“The Supreme Court has taken a tough stand on the SBI’s application,” said lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, “The Supreme Court has done the right thing… I am sure the Supreme Court will understand the gravity of the matter and pass a judgment that will teach a lesson to those who tried to to fool the court.”
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prithiviraj Harichandan said, “There should be a thorough investigation as to whether electoral bonds have reduced political corruption… it should be re-examined by the court itself and it is my personal request.”
First print: March 11, 2024 | 9:50 PM IST