1 year ago
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Hearing State Bank of India's (SBI) request for more time to provide details of the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme, the Supreme Court today fielded tough questions to the bank and asked what it has done for the past 26 days.
The SBI has approached the court for an extension, allowing it to disclose the details by June 30. The court had, in a landmark verdict on February 15, scrapped the electoral bonds scheme and directed the Election Commission of India to make the details of donation public by March 13.
The SBI's plea for more time has been opposed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which was among the petitioners who had challenged the electoral bonds scheme brought by the Narendra Modi government in 2017. The ADR has said the SBI's application has been filed at the last moment to ensure the details are not public before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Appearing for SBI, Senior Advocate Harish Salve said the bank had followed an SOP to store information about the electoral bonds scheme outside the core banking system. "We need a little more time to comply with the order. We are trying to collate the info and we are having to reverse the entire process. We as a bank were told that this is supposed to be a secret," he said.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who led the five-judge Constitution bench, noted that it was submitted that the donor details were kept in sealed cover in a Mumbai branch of the bank.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, "You have to just open the sealed cover, collate the details and give the information."
To this, Mr Salve replied, "I have full details on who purchased the bond and I have full details from where the money came from and which political party tendered how much. I have to also now put the name of purchasers. The names have to be collated, crosschecked with the bond numbers."
The Chief Justice then asked what work the bank has done in the past 26 days since the verdict. "Please tell what matching you have done in the last 26 days. There is a degree of candour expected from SBI as to this is the work which was expected and this has been done," he said.
Mr Salve said the job will take three more months. "I cannot make a mistake, else I will be sued by donors," he said.
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