Electoral Bonds – Directions to SBI in judgment dated 15 February 2024 – submission of the following details to the ECI by 6 March 2024: (a) Details of each Electoral Bond purchased including the date of purchase, the name of the purchaser and the denomination of the Electoral Bond; (b) Details of each Electoral Bond redeemed by political parties including the date of encashment and the denomination of the Electoral Bond – ECI to collate the information to be submitted by the SBI and publish it on its website by 13 March 2024 [Paras 1-4] Electoral Bonds – Extension of Time for Compliance with Court Directions – SBI prayed for extension of time until 30 June 2024 for complying with the directions because: information received by SBI maintained in two separate silos – Per SBI, direction of this Court require a matching exercise – of the details of donor and recipient political parties with respect to a particular bond – Clause 7(4), Electoral Bond Scheme – Electoral Bond information shall be disclosed when called upon to do so by a competent court [Para 6-7]
Electoral Bonds – Matching of information – SBI submitted information is not available in a digital format centrally – Donor details and the recipient details are available in two separate silos – At the end of each phase, details of the purchasers of Electoral Bonds and information on the redemption of Electoral Bonds (stored in a sealed cover and sent to the SBI, Mumbai Branch – Matching of information in the two silos is a timeconsuming process – Large number of data sets to decipher: total of 22,217 bonds were purchased between 12 April 2019 to 15 February 2024 – Total 44,434 data sets [Para 8] Electoral Bonds – SBI MA dismissed – FAQs on Electoral Bonds-Details of Purchasers readily available – Information about a political party’s encashment readily available – Court not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this stage in the Petitioners’ contempt petition
Held: Operative directions of this Court directed the SBI to disclose the transactions as set out in direction (b) and direction (c) of para 219 of the Judgment – SBI submits that donor details and redemption details are available in separate silos – The directions which have been issued by this Court require the SBI to disclose the information which is readily available with it – FAQs on Electoral Bonds published by the SBI – ‘Know Your Customer’ documents must be submitted by the purchaser each time the Electoral Bond is purchased, irrespective of whether the purchaser has a KYC verified SBI account – One set of documents can only be used to purchase one Electoral Bond – Contributors who have an SBI account as well as those who do not have to submit the Electoral Bond application, KYC documentation and proof of payment – Details of the Electoral Bonds which have been purchased and which have been directed to be disclosed by this Court are readily available – FAQs states that each political party can open only one current account for Electoral Bond redemption – Information about a political party’s encashment of Electoral Bonds would only be stored in these branches which would be clearly accessible – ADR submits that the information which was directed to be disclosed by this Court can easily be disclosed by the SBI because of the unique number which is printed on the Electoral Bond – SBI application sufficiently indicate that the information which has been directed to be disclosed by this Court is readily available – Miscellaneous Application filed by the SBI seeking an extension of time for disclosure of details of the purchase and redemption of Electoral Bonds until 30 June 2024 dismissed – SBI directed to disclose the details by the close of business hours on 12 March 2024 – ECI to compile the information and publish the details on its official website no later than by 5 pm on 15 March 2024 – ECI to forthwith publish details of the information supplied to the Court in pursuance of the interim orders on its official website – Affidavit of SBI Chairman and Managing Director upon compliance to be filed – Court not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this stage bearing in mind the application which was submitted for extension of time – SBI placed on notice – Court will be inclined to proceed against it for wilful disobedience of the judgment if SBI does not comply with the directions of this Court as set out in its judgment dated 15 February 2024 by the timelines indicated. [Paras 9-18]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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