Electoral Bonds Case: SBI must provide full details on electoral bonds without bias, as required by the court

Hearing pleas related to the disclosure of 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.

The SBI has been asked to file an affidavit by March 21 (Thursday) at 5 p.m. saying that it has not withheld any information. 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.

In a landmark verdict last month, the top court scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered the SBI, the authorized 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).

While the SBI was directed to submit the details of the bonds purchased from April 12, 2019, to February 15, 2024, to the ECI by March 6, the bank moved the top court seeking an extension of time till June 30 to furnish the details. However, the Supreme Court trashed the plea and ordered it to disclose the details by the close of business hours on March 12.

The ECI was directed to publish the information shared by the bank on its official website by 5 p.m. on March 15.