Supreme Court Orders Notice to SBI for Complete Information on Electoral Bonds
On Friday, the Supreme Court made it clear that the State Bank of India (SBI) must reveal the numbers of electoral bonds in addition to the information it has already provided on the purchase and redemption of these bonds.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and other justices reconvened to address an application from the Election Commission (EC), which requested the return of sealed documents submitted to the court following its interim order. The EC emphasized that it had not retained any copies of these documents to maintain confidentiality and therefore asked for their return to proceed with necessary actions.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Chandrachud pointed out that the bank had not disclosed the bond numbers, a requirement according to the court’s ruling. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the court to issue notice to the SBI, indicating that they might have relevant information to provide.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal referred to the court’s ruling, emphasizing that it demanded comprehensive disclosure of all relevant details. The Chief Justice clarified that they could challenge what the SBI had disclosed.
Expressing disapproval at the absence of SBI’s counsel, the Chief Justice directed notice to be issued to the bank following Mehta’s insistence, despite the bank not being parties to the EC’s application.
The bench disposed of the EC’s application without objections from any parties. It instructed the registrar general to ensure that the EC’s data is scanned and digitized by 5 PM the next day, with the original copy to be returned to the Election Commission of India.
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