Electoral Bonds case: SCBA Executive Committee distances from views of President Adish Aggarwala

The executive committee (EC) of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has distanced itself from a letter written by its president Adish C Aggarwala, the second such instance in the recent past..Aggarwala had written a letter to President of India Droupadi Murmu on March 12, claiming that the Supreme Court decision in the Electoral Bonds case was wrong and the President should withhold the judgment and seek a presidential reference under Article 143 of the Constitution of India in the matter.Under the said Article, the President can refer a question of law or fact of public importance to the Supreme Court for its decision. The EC has now claimed that Aggarwala's letter violates the authority of the Supreme Court of India."Therefore, it has become expedient .... to make it abundantly clear that the members of the committee have neither authorised the President to write any such letter nor do they subscribe to his views as expressed therein. The Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association further views this act as well as the contents therein as an attempt to overreach and undermine the authority of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and unequivocally condemn the same," the EC said in a resolution passed on March 12. The body had earlier disassociated from Aggarwala's letter seeking action against farmers protesting in and around the national capital..In a judgment rendered on February 15, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had unanimously quashed the Electoral Bonds Scheme and directed the State Bank of India (SBI) to submit the details of the political parties that have received contributions through electoral bonds from April 12, 2019, to the ECI.The Court in that judgment had ordered that details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties must be furnished by the SBI to the Election Commission of India (ECI).On March 11, the top court dismissed a plea by SBI to extend the deadline set by the top court for furnishing details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties since April 12, 2019..Aggarwala in his letter said that the entire proceedings in the Electoral Bonds case should be reheard.He argued that the judgment undermines the majesty and collective wisdom of the parliament and is unnecessarily creating a doubt on the legislative intention for bringing this scheme.Aggarwala also questioned as to how a corporate entity could be punished for having played by valid and legal rules of political contributions.It was stressed that the direction to the ECI to make public which political party received how much donation from which corporate entity, is extremely dangerous since it would render corporates vulnerable to victimization..The Executive Committee, however, clarified that it has neither authorised Aggarwala to write such a letter nor does it subscribe to the views contained in the letter..[Read Letter and Resolution]