Supreme Court to Hear SBI’s Plea for Extension on Electoral Bonds Disclosure

The Supreme Court’s five-judge bench is set to hear a plea filed by the State Bank of India on Monday, requesting an extension until June 30 to fully disclose the details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties. This development follows the recent decision by the apex court to annul the scheme, citing it as “unconstitutional.”

In addition to the plea seeking an extended deadline, the bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will also address a separate petition seeking contempt action against SBI in the same case.

The Supreme Court delivered a significant ruling on February 15, invalidating the Centre’s electoral bonds scheme, which permitted anonymous funding for political parties, deeming the policy unconstitutional. The court also mandated the disclosure of all donors by the Election Commission, along with the donated amounts and recipients, by March 15.

Directing the immediate closure of the scheme, the court instructed SBI, the authorized financial institution under the scheme, to provide details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, by March 6 to the Election Commission. The Commission was tasked with publishing this information on its official website by March 13.

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However, on March 4, the State Bank of India moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the deadline until June 30 to disclose the electoral bonds data, citing the time-consuming nature of retrieving and matching information from each silo.

Why is SBI facing contempt action?

Following SBI’s plea for an extension, separate pleas were filed by NGOs Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause, urging the initiation of contempt proceedings against the bank for allegedly disobeying the court’s directives.

The plea by ADR claimed that SBI’s request for an extension was deliberately filed at the last minute to prevent the disclosure of donor details and donation numbers before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The contempt plea stated, “The petitioner herein is filing the instant petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against State Bank of India for wilfully and deliberately disobeying the order dated February 15 passed by this court… wherein this court directed SBI to submit details of contribution made to the political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India by March 6.”

The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for March 11.