Supreme Court Denies Extension: SBI Ordered to Disclose Electoral Bond Details Tomorrow

During the hearing of SBI’s plea and a contempt plea filed against SBI by petitioners for failing to comply with the court’s order, a five-judge bench including Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra labeled the bank’s plea as miscellaneous, considering it two days before the deadline. The bench has instructed SBI to submit an affidavit from its Chairman and Managing Director confirming compliance with the court’s directives.

While the bench has stated it is not currently inclined to initiate contempt proceedings against the bank, it has cautioned that if SBI fails to comply with the directions within the specified timelines, it may consider further action for willful disobedience, as reported by Live Law.

In a significant ruling issued on February 15, a five-judge constitution bench invalidated the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme, which allowed for anonymous political funding, deeming it “unconstitutional.” The Supreme Court ordered SBI to provide information such as the purchasers of the bonds, their denominations, the parties that encashed the bonds, and the dates of encashment to the ECI by March 6. Subsequently, the Election Commission of India was tasked with publishing these details on its website by March 13.

However, on March 4, the SBI petitioned the apex court for an extension until June 30 to disclose the details of the sale of 22,217 electoral bonds encashed by political parties. The bank argued that retrieving information from various sources and matching data from different silos would be a time-consuming process. It further stated that due to the rigorous measures in place to ensure donor anonymity, deciphering electoral bonds and linking donors to donations would be a complex undertaking.