Electoral Bonds: 5 key highlights of SC verdict rejecting SBIs time-extension plea to disclose details

The Supreme Court of India, on Monday, turned down the State Bank of India’s (SBI) request seeking an extension of time to disclose details of the Electoral Bonds Scheme.The top court has asked the SBI to share the details with the Election Commission of India (ECI) by tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12. The poll panel has been asked to publish the details on its website by 5 pm on Friday, March 15.

After scrapping the Electoral Bonds Scheme, the Supreme Court had on February 15 directed India’s largest public bank, SBI, to submit all details regarding the bonds to the Election Commission of India by March 6. Further, the Election Commission was directed to publish the received data on its website by March 13.

However, on March 4, the SBI approached the top court with a plea seeking an extension until June 30 to disclose the details.

Today, a five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, rejected the SBI’s time-extension plea. The top court has ordered that the details be disclosed by SBI to the Election Commission by March 12."Submissions of SBI in the application indicates that info sought is readily available. Thus, the application by SBI seeking extension of time until June 30 is dismissed. SBI is directed to disclose the details by the close of business hours of March 12, 2024," the top Court said in the order, Bar & Bench reported.

Bar & Bench reported that the bench, while passing the order, noted that the now-scrapped Electoral Bonds Scheme stipulated that the information furnished by the buyer of such bonds shall be treated as confidential by the authorised bank and shall be disclosed when called upon to do so or on registration of an offence by law enforcement agencies.

Once the SBI furnishes the details, the Election Commission of India is supposed to post them on its website. The poll panel has been asked to publish the details on its website by 5 pm on Friday, March 15.

The dates assume significance since the Election Commission is expected to announce the schedule for the April-May Lok Sabha polls 2024 in a few days from now.