Electoral Bonds: Centre says Supreme Court verdict is being misused; court orders SBI to furnish bonds' numbers

The Central government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the apex court's verdict striking down the Electoral Bonds scheme was being misused by various persons on social media [Association for Democratic Reforms and Anr vs Union of India Cabinet Secretary and ors]..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a five-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that statistics pertaining to the disclosure of electoral bonds purchased by political parties were being twisted to suit an agenda and that the Court is being embarrassed in the process."The ultimate aim was to curb black money and this Court must be aware of how this judgment is being played outside the court. Now the witch hunting has started in another level and not at the level of the Central government. Those before the Court started giving press interviews, deliberately embarrassing the Court and it is not a level playing field. There is a barrage of social media posts intended to cause embarrassment and now it is an open field. Now statistics can be twisted as people want. Based on the statistics, any kind of posts are being made," SG Mehta said.However, the Court said that it is not concerned with how its judgments are being interpreted by third parties."As judges, we are only on the rule of law and work as per the Constitution. Our court is only to work for the governance of rule of law in this polity. As judges, we are also discussed on social media but our shoulders are broad enough to take this. We are only on enforcing our directions in para b and c of the judgment," CJI Chandrachud responded..It then proceeded to order the State Bank of India (SBI) to disclose all relevant information concerning electoral bonds including the details of alpha numeric numbers attached to such bonds. "This Court had directed disclosure of information on Electoral Bonds scheme to give logical and complete end to the proceedings and thus issued operative directions in para b and c of the judgment. Para b requires SBI to furnish details of EB purchases from April 12, 2019 till the date of judgment. It shall include name, denomination etc. In para c, we sought directions of political parties who received funding through electoral bonds and SBI was to disclose details of each bond encashed by political parties including date of such encashment. This indicates that SBI was supposed to divulge all details regarding purchase and redemption. The expressions include that it was illustrative and not exhaustive of the disclosure. There is no manner of doubt that SBI shall make disclosure of all information with it and it shall include the details of electoral bond numbers or the alpha numeric numbers with it," the Bench ordered..SBI shall make disclosure of all information with it and it shall include the details of electoral bond numbers or the alpha numeric numbers with it.Supreme Court .The Bench had on March 15 sought SBI's response on the non-disclosure of electoral bonds numbers that would help identify the bond encasher and recipients..The electoral bonds scheme had allowed donors to anonymously send funds to a political party after buying bearer bonds from SBI.It was introduced introduced through the Finance Act, 2017, which in turn amended three other statutes - the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Income Tax Act and the Representation of People Act.Various petitions were filed before the top court challenging at least five amendments made to different statutes through the Finance Act, 2017 on the ground that they have opened doors to unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties.Nearly seven years later, the apex court struck down the scheme..On February 15, the Court quashed the Electoral Bonds Scheme in February and directed SBI to submit the details of the political parties that have received contributions through such bonds from April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India (ECI).The Supreme Court had subsequently rejected the request by the SBI for an extension on March 11, and directed that the following details of each electoral bonds purchased be furnished;- Name of purchaser;- Denomination of electoral bonds; and- Details of each electoral bond redeemed by political parties including the date of encashment.The Court on March 15 noted that SBI has not disclosed electoral bond numbers and proceeded to issue notice to the bank..During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for SBI, submitted that the apex court's judgment was being misused by public interest litigation (PIL) industry. "Your judgment is one of the leading judgments in voter rights, transparency, and recognizes the role of money in politics. But this judgment was not to trigger a now dormant PIL industry that now give this give that. This should not be a fodder for PILs for the next 10 years and that was not the purpose of the judgment," Salve said.When advocate Prashant Bhushan sought to make submission, SG Mehta opposed the same. "He has assisted enough. He is not addressing the court. He is addressing for the press for tomorrows' papers," the SG said."Unfortunately public interest litigations has become publicity interest litigations," Justice Gavai weighed in."This is matter of great concern because verdicts are being used for hidden agendas," Salve contended.Bhushan then suggested that political parties should be directed to give donor details."Major political parties have not given donor details. Only some parties have given it," he submitted.However, the Court said it cannot pass such a direction. "No Mr. Bhushan this will become a substantive modification of the (February 15) judgment," the CJI said."We are not sitting on review now," Justice Gavai too stated."Once we direct what we are doing today, a lot of issues will be resolved," Justice Khanna too opined.Bhushan then said that there was mismatch between electoral bonds purchased and the bonds redeemed. "There is a huge mismatch between electoral bonds purchased and the bonds redeemed. It shows redemption of 550 crore more...what is possible is some of these bonds were purchased before April 12, 2019 and it was redeemed after that," he said."These sponsored NGOs are fudging the figures and submitting it. Einstein had said that statistics is often used like how a drunken person uses a pole, more for support and not for illumination," SG said.The Court meanwhile said that SBI should not be selective in disclose of details of electoral bonds "We had asked all details to be disclosed by SBI which includes electoral bond numbers as well. Let SBI not be selective n disclosure, do not wait for orders, we believe that SBI will be candid and fair to the court. We want all information related to the electoral bonds to be disclosed which is in your possession. As chairman of SBI, every part of information on electoral bonds had to be disclosed," the Court underlined.It also specifically raised queries on the relevance of bond's number. "How does the redeeming branch match the electoral bond number to ensure that it is not a forged bond," the Court asked.Eventually, it proceeded to direct SBI to furnish all such details including bonds' numbers to the Election Commission."We direct SBI chairman to submit an affidavit on 5 pm, Thursday stating that no info has been withheld from disclosure in terms of directions given in para 221," the Court ordered.The ECI shall upload the details forthwith once it receives the data from SBI, the Court added..[Read order].[Read live coverage]