A Constitution bench comprising five judges of the Supreme Court made a ruling on Monday, rejecting the State Bank of India's request for an extension of time and instructing it to provide the Electoral Commission with the particulars of electoral bonds by the end of business hours on March 12.
Chaired by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, the bench also instructed the EC to make the details supplied by the bank available on its official website by 5 pm on March 15.
During the proceedings, the bench, which included Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, took note of senior advocate Harish Salve's arguments on behalf of the SBI. Salve stated that additional time was necessary to compile and reconcile the details since the information was stored separately across various branches of the bank.
Salve further mentioned that if the reconciliation process could be waived, the SBI could complete the task within three weeks.
The bench clarified that it hadn't instructed the SBI to cross-reference the details of donors and recipients with other information. The Supreme Court emphasized that the SBI only needed to unveil the sealed cover, consolidate the information, and provide it to the Election Commission.
Furthermore, the bench inquired about the measures taken by the SBI to adhere to the directives outlined in the Supreme Court's judgment on February 15.
"Your application fails to address the steps taken in the last 26 days. Your application lacks clarity on this matter," the bench remarked.
The SBI was urged to provide a straightforward disclosure as mandated by the court's judgment.
In a groundbreaking ruling on February 15, a Constitution bench of five judges invalidated the government's electoral bonds scheme, which permitted anonymous political funding, deeming it "unconstitutional." The court ordered the Election Commission to disclose information about donors, the amounts they donated, and the recipients by March 13.
The SBI had requested an extension until June 30 to divulge the details of each electoral bond redeemed by political parties before the scheme's annulment.
The bench also considered a separate petition seeking contempt proceedings against the SBI.
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