- puts SBI on notice, says won’t accept wilful disobedience of order
New Delhi, March 11.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the State Bank of India to publish all information relating to electoral bonds sold so far, by a day i.e. March 12, 2024. The public sector bank had sought time till June 30, 2024, to publish this information.
The bank had claimed that though it had all donor and donee (political party which received it) information with it, these had been maintained in different silos to prevent any potential leaks. Matching the donations to each political party was a complex exercise and will take time, it had said.
The SBI’s case was argued in court by senior advocate Harish N. Salve.
The five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, which had on Feb 15, 2024, asked the SBI to publish this information in public domain, dismissed the SBI’s application seeking more time to publish all electoral bond related information to the public.
The court said that all information with SBI will be published in a day. Salve said that publishing the information without linking any donation with a political party would not take time.
The bench noted with concern that so many days had passed since the court ordered the bank to make the information public but the bank had not stated if it had even begun the process or whether any progress had been made towards making it public.
This information should have been given by the bank, it said.
The bank may hence make public the two sets of information one relating to the donors and also the list of recipients of the donations in separate silos. The top also court also asked the Election Commission to collate and publish all electoral bond related information by March 15.
The court though said that it was not inclined for now to exercise its contempt powers against SBI, but warned the bank that it would accept any wilful disobedience of its order.
NGO Association of Democratic Reforms had filed a contempt plea against SBI.
The top court had struck down all changes in the law to facilitate sale of anonymous electoral bonds to political parties, directed the SBI to stop such sale forthwith and make public such information.
The court had said that non-disclosure of such information would be against the citizen’s right to information and hence arbitrary and illegal.
