The Supreme Court on Monday asked why the State Bank of India (SBI) had not provided “all details” of electoral bonds while hearing the pleas related to the disclosure of unique alphanumeric numbers in compliance of its directions.
The apex court gave the SBI chairman a March 21 5 p.m. deadline to file an affidavit indicating that the bank has disclosed all details of electoral bonds.
A five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said, “SBI was expected to give every conceivable detail with it regarding the electoral bonds.”
“Your attitude seems to be ‘you tell us to give the details, then we will give'. SBI is not to be selective. SBI has to be candid and fair to the court,” the Bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, orally said during the hearing.
“We had asked all details to be disclosed by the SBI which includes electoral bond numbers as well. Let SBI not be selective in disclosure,” the five-judge bench said.
The CJI added that the interim orders on the extent of disclosure of information regarding electoral bonds merge with the final judgment on February 15, 2024.
He indicated that the bank has to not only provide every scrap on electoral bonds but also file an affidavit that it has not withheld any information. The burden is not on the court or the petitioners to point out that this or the other information has not been disclosed, he said.
The top court last month had scrapped the electoral bond scheme allowed anonymous political funding calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered the SBI, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit the details of the bonds purchased from April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024 to the Election Commission of India (ECI)
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