Supreme Court says SBI has not disclosed numbers on electoral bonds, issues notice to bank
NEW DELHI,15 : The Supreme Court on Friday took strong exception to the State Bank of India (SBI) for failing to publish the numbers (unique alpha-numeric details) on all the electoral bonds received by political parties by March 16, after noting that its March 11 judgment clearly stated and asked it to do so.
The numbers reveal the links between donors and political parties, that is, which donor donated to which political party specifically. On March 12, the SBI had submitted data on the bonds to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The top court took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who appeared in the matter on behalf of the petitioner, that the alpha-numeric numbers of the electoral bonds have not been disclosed by the SBI. The miffed top court issued a notice to the bank today.
It then posted the matter for further hearing on March 18.
The Supreme Court also directed its registrar (judicial) to ensure the return of the original electoral bonds data submitted by the ECI in a sealed cover to the poll body once the data is scanned and digitised.
The return of the additional data (both the original and its digital version) to the ECI has to be done by 5 pm on Saturday (March 16) evening and it has to be uploaded on the website by Sunday evening, the top court directed today.
The ECI had moved the top court on Thursday seeking copies of the sealed cover documents (electoral bonds) submitted during the court proceedings so that the additional data could be uploaded on its website.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was on Friday morning hearing an application filed by the ECI seeking a modification of the operative portion of its March 11 order in the electoral bonds case.
In its application filed in the apex court, the poll panel had said that it did not keep any copy of the documents and added that those may be returned so that it can comply with the court’s directions.
-PTI
