Supreme Court Says State Bank Of India Has To Disclose Electoral Bond Numbers, Issues Notice To SBI

In the latest development in the court-mandated disclosure process concerning electoral bonds details, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra reconvened today to hear an application filed by the Election Commission. In its application, the ECI sought the return of sealed cover documents furnished by the commission to the court in adherence to its interim order.

The ECI asserted that it did not retain any copies of these documents to uphold confidentiality. Therefore, it sought the return of the sealed envelopes to proceed with the required actions.

Right at the outset of the hearing today, Chief Justice Chandrachud clarified, "One thing. Who is appearing for the State Bank of India? They have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the court to issue notice to the bank, arguing, "I am not appearing for the State Bank of India. But Your Lordships may issue notice to the SBI since they may have something to say. I feel that they need to be here."

In response, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal pointed to the operative portion of the court's ruling, insisting that it was an 'inclusive' order requiring all relevant details to be furnished. 

"Really speaking, we can take exception to what the SBI has disclosed," the chief justice also countered. He also disapproved of the State Bank's counsel not being present, to which SG Mehta said that they were not parties to the Election Commission's application. 

Although initially reluctant, at the solicitor general's insistence, Chief Justice Chandrachud ultimately directed notice to be issued to the State Bank of India.

The bench also disposed of the Election Commission's application with no objection from any of the parties. It instructed the registrar general to ensure that the data filed by the commission is scanned and digitised by 5 PM tomorrow. Once this is complete, the original copy has been directed to be returned to the Election Commission of India. A copy of the scanned and digitised files will also be made available to them. Then, this data is to be uploaded on the Election Commission's website.

Background

This disclosure process stems from the Supreme Court's earlier declaration of the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional and has been the subject of intense legal scrutiny in recent weeks.

In a landmark judgment, the Chief Justice Chandrachud-led bench on February 15 struck down the electoral bonds scheme holding that anonymous electoral bonds contravene the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Not only this, the State Bank of India, the issuing bank of electoral bonds, was directed by this constitution bench to cease issuing these bonds immediately. Furthermore, the bank was instructed to submit details of all such bond purchases made since the court's interim order on April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India within three weeks, setting the deadline for March 6, 2024.

Days before the deadline was set to expire, the State Bank of India moved an application seeking an extension of time. Following this, various parties, including Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Common Cause, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), filed contempt petitions against it for its non-disclosure of vital details related to electoral bonds.

The latest application comes on the heels of the apex court's recent directives to the State Bank of India (SBI) and the ECI while dismissing an application by the bank for an extension of time to furnish electoral bonds details. The court, in its ruling, emphasised that the requisite information was already available with the bank and mandated the disclosure of these details by the close of business hours on March 12, 2024.

This application was dismissed by the five-judge bench led by Chief Justice Chandrachud, which concluded that the requisite information was readily available with the bank, and rejected attempts by the issuing bank to get the deadline extended on grounds of the complexity of compiling the data.

Following this directive, the SBI, on March 12, furnished the electoral bonds details to the Election Commission of India in compliance with the court's order. The ECI promptly announced this development via its spokesperson on the social media platform 'X' (formerly Twitter).

Additionally, on March 13, 2024, the Chairman of the State Bank of India, Dinesh Kumar Khara, filed a compliance affidavit with the Supreme Court, affirming the submission of electoral bonds details to the ECI. The affidavit outlined that the bank provided the information in two separate packets: one containing details of bond purchasers and the other containing information on political parties redeeming these bonds.

Furthermore, the SBI clarified that between April 1, 2019, and February 15, 2024, a total of 22,217 bonds were purchased, while 22,030 bonds were redeemed during this period.

In a subsequent move, on March 14, the Election Commission of India uploaded the electoral bonds data supplied by the State Bank of India on its official website, adhering to the court's directives for transparency.

Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. | Diary No. 11805 of 2024

Click Here To Read/Download Order