State Bank of India had asked for an extension of the deadline for furnishing details of donations made via electoral bonds. The bank had asked the apex court to give it time till June 30
Supreme Court has asked the State Bank of India (SBI) to furnish all the details regarding the donations made via electoral bonds to political parties by March 12. The apex court gave the order while hearing SBI's plea for extension of the deadline till June 30.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud-led bench directed the bank to make public all the details in the stipulated time. If the bank fails to make the disclosures by the end of business hours on Tuesday, the bench noted, "We place SBI on notice that we might be inclined to proceed on wilful disobedience of the court order if it does not comply with the timeline given today."
Election Commission of India has been ordered to upload all the details on donations on its website by March 15.
A five-judge constitution bench deemed the electoral bond scheme of Modi government as unconstitutional on February 15. In its order, the court had asked SBI to reveal the details of all the donors to public by March 6 and subsequently, these details were supposed to be uploaded by ECI on its website by March 13.
However, the bank did not disclose the donors list by March 6 but instead asked for an extension of the deadline till June 30. Dismissing the application, the apex court noted that the bank is not required to do the matching exercise of which donor gave how much to one party at this moment.
Following the latest order, SBI is required to reveal the details of all the bonds purchased from April 12, 2019, till March 11.