The Supreme Court is considering an application from the State Bank of India asking for further time to provide information on electoral bonds. The deadline for filing the information was March 6th, set by the court. The bank has requested till June 30th.
The case is being heard by a five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and made up of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra.
Prior to the program’s termination last month, the bench had requested information from the national bank regarding each electoral bond that political parties had cashed.
The highest court is also considering a different argument made by the nonprofit Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause, which has requested that the SBI be held in contempt. The petitioners claimed that the bank willfully ignored the court’s directive to submit the information by March 6.
Bench abolished the Center’s electoral bonds scheme, which permitted anonymous political contributions, on February 15. It was deemed “unconstitutional” by the judges.
Election bonds are against Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality, as well as people’s access to knowledge. The court had declared that they also violate the constitution’s guarantee of free and fair elections.
The Election Commission was requested by the court to provide information about donors, their contributions, and the recipients. It stated that by March 13, the data ought to be posted on the Commission’s website.
Additionally, the court ordered the SBI to provide the Commission with information on all bonds acquired after April 12, 2019, by March 6.
The Supreme Court was urged to extend the deadline to June 30 by the SBI on March 4. According to the bank, getting the information will take some time. It is more difficult because anonymity must be maintained.
The BJP, according to the Congress, is using the bank as a shield. Additionally, the party said that the request for an extension is a ploy to conceal information until the Lok Sabha election.
Pointing out that as a fully computerised bank, the SBI can have all the details with a few clicks, the Congress said, “SBI operates 48 crore bank accounts, 66,000 ATMs and has nearly 23,000 branches… and this SBI needs five months to give data on just 22,217 electoral bonds”.
