The Supreme Court on Monday directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to disclose all details related to the electoral bonds, including serial numbers, which allowed individuals and companies to make donations to political parties.
Chairman SBI must file an affidavit after declaring all details of the bonds by Thursday 5 pm, the Supreme Court ordered, Live Law reported.
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“The judgment was clear that all details need to be disclosed…don’t be selective,” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, asking to ensure that nothing had been suppressed.
“We want all information related to the electoral bonds to be disclosed which is in your possession,” said CJI Chandrachud while hearing a petition against the “incomplete data” provided by the SBI on the donations made to political parties through electoral bonds.
It has also asked the Election Commission to upload the details given by the SBI on its website.
Earlier, the top court had struck down the scheme and directed the bank to share all details on the donations made in the last five years.
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After the bank submitted the data, the Supreme Court had pulled up the SBI for not disclosing electoral bond numbers and thereby not fully complying with its previous judgment. The top court categorically stated that electoral bond numbers, which link donors to recipients, “have to be disclosed” by the lender.
Noting that the electoral bond details shared by SBI were incomplete, a five-judge bench issued a notice to the bank to explain the lapse and had posted the matter for hearing on March 18.
“The SBI’s attitude seems to be ‘you tell us what to disclose, we will disclose’. That does not seem to be fair. When we say “all details”, it includes all conceivable data,” the CJI said today.