Supreme Court: In an application filed by the Election Commission of India (‘ECI’) seeking return of sealed cover documents furnished by ECI to the Court in adherence to its interim order, a 5-Judge Constitution Bench comprising of Dr. DY Chandrachud, CJI., Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, JJ. has asked the State Bank of India (‘SBI’) to disclose all ‘conceivable’ details available with it regarding electoral bonds, including the alphanumeric number corresponding to each bond by March 21. It also directed that the Election Commission of India to upload the details received from the SBI on its website.
The Bench clarified that its judgment dated 15-02-2024 mandated the SBI to disclose “all details” including the date of purchase/redemption, name of purchaser/recipient, and the denomination. The use of the word “including” means that the details specified in the judgment are illustrative and not exhaustive.
The Court stated that it had expressly asked SBI to disclose ‘all details’, which includes the bond numbers as well. Further, it remarked that the bank cannot be selective in disclosing. It said that all details include all conceivable data. It also clarified that SBI will not only file the bond numbers but also submit an affidavit saying that it has not suppressed any details.
Source: Press
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