Bare all info on poll bonds, SC tells SBI
were sold between 1 March, 2018 and 11 April, 2019.
The government notified the electoral bonds scheme for political donations in January 2018. These bonds were sold only by SBI at its specified branches. The court also refused to hear pleas by industry bodies like Ficci and Assocham to defer the disclosure of bond numbers, arguing that information cannot be requested to be disclosed when anonymity is guaranteed.
During the hearing, solicitor general Tushar Mehta urged the court to issue a notice regarding the misinformation being spread on social media, which is contrary to the judgment of the court in the electoral bond case. He also noted that the judgment of the court has been misrepresented in the press and on social media by the petitioners, and there appears to be a witch-hunt and hidden agenda behind it. According to the solicitor general, the petitioners have been giving press interviews deliberately, causing embarrassment.
In response, the court stated that it is prepared for social media commentary and that when it passes any judgment, it becomes public property. “As an institution, our shoulders are broad enough to deal with social media commentary. Our intent was disclosure... We are governed by a rule of law,” said the chief justice.
In the previous hearing, the Supreme Court ordered the return of sealed covers containing information on the electoral bonds submitted to the court to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The court directed the judicial registrar to digitize the data from the sealed covers by 5 PM on Saturday and return the original sealed cover to the ECI along with the digitized copy.
The apex court on 11 February directed SBI to share the required information by the close of business hours on 12 March. Additionally, the top court ordered the ECI to publish the details of the bonds, previously submitted in a sealed cover to the court, on its website by 15 March. Following these orders, the SBI submitted details of electoral bonds to the ECI on 12 March. Consequently, on Sunday, the ECI made the electoral bonds data public as per the court’s directives.