New Delhi: Admonishing the State Bank of India for furnishing incomplete information, the Supreme Court said on Friday the bank was required to provide the number unique to each electoral bond that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party.
It issued a notice to the country’s largest bank to explain the reasons for non-disclosure of unique alpha numeric numbers in compliance of its directions, saying the SBI was “duty bound” to reveal them.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the apex court had, in its verdict in the electoral bonds case, directed the disclosure of all the details of the bonds, including the purchaser, amount and date of purchase.
“We had said all details had to be handed over to Election Commission (EC). They [SBI] have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India,” said Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal pointed out that the top court’s ruling was an “inclusive” order requiring SBI to furnish all details available with them pertaining to electoral bonds. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested time for the SBI to respond.
“Judgment of the Constitution Bench required the SBI to furnish to the EC all details of the electoral bonds and redeemed, including the date of purchase, name of purchaser, and the date of purchase/redemption. It is submitted that SBI has not disclosed the unique alpha numeric number of the electoral bonds,” the Chief Justice said.
The observation came while the Supreme Court was hearing an application filed by the EC seeking modification of its March 11 order where it had dismissed the SBI’s plea seeking an extension till June 30 to submit the data on electoral bonds.
The EC had asked the top court to return the electoral bonds data it had previously submitted in sealed covers, claiming that it cannot publish the said information on its website until the sealed envelopes are returned. The poll body said it passed on to the court the data submitted by political parties regarding the encashed bonds without retaining copies.
The court today directed the judicial registrar to ensure that documents filed by the EC before it in sealed cover are scanned and digitised before being returned. It said this be preferably carried out by 5 PM on Saturday, March 16.
