The Supreme Court on Monday cracked the whip on the State Bank of India as it rejected the bank's plea seeking extension of deadline to disclose the details of electoral bonds meant to fund political parties. A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, directed the SBI to furnish the details of the electoral bonds encashed by political parties by Tuesday, March 12.
Earlier, on February 15, the Supreme Court scrapped the Central government's electoral bonds scheme, under which individuals and companies could fund political parties anonymously. Calling the electoral bonds scheme "unconstitutional", the apex court had then directed SBI to disclose the data on donors, amount donated and recipients by March 13.
The State Bank of India, which approached the Supreme Court on March 11 seeking extension of deadline to disclose the data, was further asked to publish the details shared by the bank on its official website by 5 pm on March 15. Coming down heavily on SBI, the top asked the bank about the steps it had taken in the past 26 days.
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Here are some of the top quotes from the SC hearing on electoral bonds:
- "Our judgment is dated 15 February. We are on 11 March. In past 26 days, what steps you have taken? Nothing is stated. It should have been disclosed. That this is the work which have done, we need time to more. We expect some candour from the State Bank of India," Live Law quoted the top court as saying.
- Citing SBI's application, the Supreme Court said, "What you are saying is that donor details were sent to Mumbai main branch and the political parties' details were also sent to the same branch and thus two sets of information were there."
- "We are taking that you have no difficulty in giving the names of purchasers and political parties and the only difficulty is in matching. For what 26 days, something must have happened," the court asked.
- The apex court clarified its previous order, saying, "Now if you see the direction we have issued, we have not you to told you to do the matching exercise. We have directed a plain disclosure."
- In a stern direction to the bank, the Supreme Court said, "You say all purchaser details are kept in a sealed cover. You just need to open the sealed cover and give the details to the Election Commission."
- Countering SBI's concerns over possible mistakes during disclosure, the apex court said, "There is no question of any mistake. You have the KYC. You are the number one bank in the country. We expect you to handle it."
- In its final order, the Supreme Court said, "In order to give the full effect to the judgment, this Court directed the SBI, which was the authorised bank to deal with the electoral bonds, to submit the details of the electoral bonds purchased by the contributors and redeemed by political parties between April 12, 2019 till 15 Feb 2024."
During the hearing, the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, took note of the submissions of senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the SBI.