Supreme Court comes down heavily on SBI and demands all electoral bond details be made public.
The Supreme Court has criticized the State Bank of India for incomplete disclosure of electoral bond details. A bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud directed the SBI Chairman to file an affidavit by 5 PM on March 21st declaring all information related to electoral bonds.
The SC clarified that SBI must disclose every conceivable detail in its possession, including alphanumeric numbers and serial numbers of all bonds purchased or redeemed, without suppressing any facts.
The bench warned that failing to do so would be a non-compliance of the top court’s order. The CJI asked SBI not to appear before the court to represent any political party and ensure the bank abides fully by the judgment.
In February, the SC scrapped the electoral bonds scheme introduced by the Centre in 2017, calling it unconstitutional. It then directed the EC to publicize donors and recipients of bonds by March 13th.
However, noting that electoral bond details shared earlier by SBI were incomplete, a five-judge bench issued a notice to the bank explaining the lapse.
The SC has now directed the EC to immediately publish on its website all the electoral bond information received from SBI after 5 PM on March 21st.
With political funding under the scanner, the top court seems adamant on ensuring complete transparency as demanded by its earlier verdict.
