SBI must provide full details on electoral bonds without bias: Supreme Court

SBI must provide full details on electoral bonds without bias, as required by the court.

Haering pleas related to disclosure of details of electoral bonds in which the Supreme Court had asked SBI to explain the reasons for non-disclosure of unique alphanumeric numbers in compliance with its directions, the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on March 18 said, “SBI was expected to give every conceivable detail with it regarding the electoral bonds.”

“Your attitude seems to be ‘you tell us to give the details, then we will give’. SBI is not to be selective. SBI has to be candid and fair to the court,” he said.

The CJI added that the interim orders on the extent of disclosure of information regarding electoral bonds merge with the final judgment on February 15, 2024.

He indicated that the bank has to not only provide every scrap on electoral bonds but also file an affidavit that it has not withheld any information. The burden is not on the court or the petitioners to point out that this or the other information has not been disclosed, he said.

In a landmark verdict last month, the top court scrapped the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme that allowed anonymous political funding calling it “unconstitutional” and ordered the State Bank of India (SBI), the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit the details of the bonds purchased from April 12, 2019 to February 15, 2024 to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

(With agency inputs)