Supreme Court Dismisses SBI's Plea For Extension Of Time For Furnishing Electoral Bonds Details; Directs Disclosure By March 12

In response to this, Chief Justice Chandrachud pointed out that the court's directions did not require the bank to conduct a 'matching exercise' but simply to disclose the information. The chief justice also noted that the bank had all the necessary details, as evidenced by its KYC records.

“What you are saying is that there are two different information silos and rematching them would require significant effort. But, if you see the directions we issued, we did not ask you to do this matching exercise. We have simply directed plain disclosure. The grounds on which you seek additional time do not accord at all with the directions we issued.”

“We have the details, I am not saying we don't have them,” Salve told the court, before reiterating that the difficulty was caused because of the siloisation of the information recorded by the State Bank of India.

“We were told that this was supposed to be secret. That is how we devised the mechanism. We don't want to now create any havoc by making any mistake…” Salve argued.

“There is no question of any mistake. You have the KYC. You are the number 1 bank in the country. We expect you to handle it,” Justice Khanna countered. He also pointed to paragraph 10 of the SBI's submissions, which indicated that all purchasing details were kept in a sealed cover at the main branch.

The judge then suggested a straightforward solution: “Simply open up the sealed cover, collate the names, and furnish the details.”

Salve acknowledged that the SBI had the purchaser details but explained the difficulty in matching them with the bond numbers. Apart from this, he mentioned that some of the information was kept physically, not digitally, compounding the difficulty of the task.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Chandrachud also questioned the State Bank of India over its non-disclosure of the progress made so far. "Our judgment was issued on February 15. Today, it is March 11. In the last 26 days, what is the extent of matching done by you? The affidavit is silent on this. We expect a degree of candour from the State Bank of India."

The senior counsel assured the court that the details relating to the progress would be placed on record in an affidavit. He also suggested a 'way around', saying, "In the order, there are two parts - B and C. If you don't want to create a bridge between B and C, i.e., if there is no requirement to link the purchaser details with the parties, we can give everything within three weeks. The trouble is we thought we had to give a complete correlation..."

The details sought from the SBI on one hand include the date of purchase of each electoral bond, the name of the purchaser of the bond, and the denomination of the electoral bond purchased. On the other, details of each electoral bonds encashed by the political parties, including the date of such encashment, were also asked to be disclosed.

"Political parties have already given the details of the encashment made by them. Purchasers details are already available," Justice Khanna pointed out. 

"Alright, we'll dictate a short order," Chief Justice Chandrachud indicated. At this juncture, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing ADR and Common Cause, attempted to interject. The chief justice stopped him, saying, "After we dictate the order, if something remains, you can then make your submission."

Then, Chief Justice Chandrachud proceeded to pronounce an order dismissing the plea filed by the State Bank of India, remarking that its submissions "sufficiently indicate that the information is readily available". Accordingly, the bank has been asked to furnish the details by the close of business hours tomorrow, i.e., March 12. The order reads -

"...What has to be analysed is whether the State Bank of India is justified in seeking an extension of time. The crux of their submission is that the matching of information to ascertain who contributed to which political party is a time-consuming process since the information is maintained in two separate silos. Now, the operative direction which has been issued by this court as reproduced earlier was for a disclosure by the State Bank of the transactions. The State Bank of India has submitted that the donor details and redemption details are available, albeit in separate silos. In other words, the direction issued by this court requires the bank to disclose information which is already available with it. At this point, it would be apposite to refer to the FAQs on electoral bonds, which state that Know-Your-Customer (KYC) documents must be submitted by the purchaser each time the bond is purchased irrespective of whether the purchaser has a KYC-verified SBI account. Thus, the details of the bonds which have been purchased are readily available. Similarly, the FAQs with respect to redemption of bonds state that each political party can only open one current account for electoral bond redemption in any of the 29 designated branches. Therefore, information about political parties will be stored in these branches which would be clearly accessible. The submissions of the State Bank of India sufficiently indicate that the information is readily available.

In view of the above discussion, SBI's miscellaneous application seeking an extension of time until June 30 is dismissed. The State Bank is directed to disclose the details by the close of business hours of March 12, 2024. As regards the Election Commission of India, we direct them to compile the information and publish the information on their website no later than by 5 PM on March 15, 2024."

1. State Bank of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms & Ors. | MA 486 of 2024 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 880 of 2017

2. Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr. v. Dinesh Kumar Khara | Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 138 of 2024 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 880 of 2017

3. Communist Party of India (Marxist) v. Dinesh Kumar Khara | Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 140 of 2024 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 59 of 2018

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