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Synopsis

The Association of Democratic Reforms has filed a contempt petition before the Supreme Court of India against the State Bank of India's non-adherence to the court's order to disclose information on electoral bonds issued and cashed out by March 6, 2024.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the contempt plea before a CJI DY Chandrachud led bench stating, "The SBI's plea seeking an extension of 4 months is likely to be listed on Monday, please list this contempt petition along with it".

The CJI asked that a mail be sent after the petition is numbered and he would pass orders accordingly.

Two days back, State Bank of India, approached the Supreme Court for extension of time till June 30, 2024 for disclosing details of such bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, contending decoding it is a complex exercise and would require time.

"The timeline of three weeks fixed by the court in its judgement dated 15.02.2024 would not be sufficient for the entire exercise to be completed. Therefore, an extension of time may kindly be granted by this Court in order to enable the SBI to comply with the judgement," an application filed by SBI stated.

Between April 12, 2019, to the date of the judgement i.e. February 15, 2024, 22,217, electoral bonds were used for making donations to various political parties, SBI pointed out.

The Supreme Court had on February 15, 2024 declared Electoral Bonds scheme for donation to political parties as unconstitutional.  Court had told SBI to furnish all the information on bonds to the Election Commission by March 6, 2024, which was further directed to upload the details on its website. 

It had further directed that Electoral Bonds which are within the validity period of fifteen days but that which have not been encashed by the political party yet shall be returned by the political party or the purchaser depending on who is in possession of the bond to the issuing bank.

Case Title: Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors.