Don't play tricks anymore, SBI told

New Delhi: In a third tongue-lashing to the State Bank of India, the Supreme Court on Monday told it to stop being "selective" and make "complete disclosure" of all details related to the electoral bonds scheme by March 21. The apex court said the details to be disclosed include the unique bond numbers that would reveal the link between the buyers and the recipient political parties.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said there is "no manner of doubt that the SBI is required to make complete disclosure of all the details" which are in its possession. The bench, also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice B R Gavai, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, said the Election Commission shall forthwith upload on its website the details received from the SBI.

Last Friday, the SC admonished SBI for furnishing incomplete information and issued a notice to the bank to explain the reasons for the non-disclosure of unique alphanumeric numbers. On Monday, the bench noted the submission of senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the SBI, that there is no reservation on the part of the bank in disclosing all the details of electoral bonds which are in its possession.

During the hearing, the bench asked the SBI to disclose all conceivable information on electoral bonds, including bond numbers. "We had asked all details to be disclosed by the SBI which includes electoral bond numbers as well. Let SBI not be selective in disclosure," the bench mentioned orally. It said the apex court had, in its verdict in the electoral bonds case, asked the bank to disclose all the details of the bonds and it should not wait for further orders on this aspect. The bench refused a hearing on unlisted pleas of industry bodies, Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the case. The industry bodies, through senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, wanted an urgent hearing on their interim application against the disclosure of bond details. Salve told the bench it should not seem that the bank is "playing with" the court as they have no difficulty in disclosing the details of electoral bonds. Several political parties declined to share details of electoral bond donors citing various legal provisions, while others said they received the funding instruments through "drop box" or by post without any name.

The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) has told the Election Commission that someone delivered to its office an envelope with electoral bonds worth Rs 10 crore in 2019, which were redeemed by the party.

The Samajwadi Party shared details of bonds of relatively smaller amounts of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, but merely mentioned that 10 bonds of Rs 1 crore each were received by post without any name. The DMK, which received almost 77 per cent of its funds from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming, said it had reached out to the donors of the party to get details of the donations they had made.