State Bank of India faces a big setback as the Apex Court of India dismissed its plea seeking an extension of the deadline to disclose the details of electoral bonds.
Headed by CJ of India DY Chandrachud the five-judge bench comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, who directed SBI to disclose the details by 12th March.
Additionally, the Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission of India to publish the compiled details on its official website by 5 pm on March 15th.
What did the court say?
The bench said,” SBI is directed to disclose the details by the close of business hours of March 12.”
“As regards the ECI, we direct that ECI shall compile the information and publish the details on its official website no later than 5 pm on March 15,” the bench further instructed the Election Commission body.
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It stated that the SBI only needed to open the sealed cover, gather the data, and deliver the information to the EC. It asked the SBI to merely supply the information about donors and bonds that political parties have encashed, without “matching” them.
SC interrogated SBI asking, “In the last 26 days, what steps have you taken? Your application is silent on that.”
During the hearing, the SBI’s senior advocate Harish Salve submitted that more time was needed to compile and compare information from various branches. The bench accepted this. Salve said the SBI could do the job in three weeks if the matching procedure was dropped.
The bench clarified that the bank was not instructed to cross-reference donor and donee details with other information.
“You are stating that there are two distinct information silos, and it would take a lot of work to match them. However, as you can see from the instructions we provided, you were not asked to do this matching task. All we’ve done is order clear transparency. The reasons you are requesting more time are completely at odds with the instructions we gave.” the bench stated.
“The court is not exercising any contempt jurisdiction but we are placing SBI on notice, the court will proceed against it for wilful disobedience, given SBI does not comply with the timelines of the order,” the bench ordered.
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