The Supreme Court on Friday takes an exception to the SBI not disclosing the unique numbers of the Electoral Bonds. The apex court issued notice to the SBI and sought its reply in next hearing on Monday. The case was being heard by five-judge bench led by Chief Justice Of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud.
After the hearing begins, the Election Commission of India (ECI) stated that it handed over the sealed cover to the top court. As per the poll body, the cover contained 106 sealed envelopes, sealed boxes including 523 sealed envelopes in two tranches following the court's order.
The commission stated that it can only upload them for public after it gets it back. In response to which, the court stated: "We will ask for the data to be digitised and scanned and the original will be given back to ECI."
At the beginning of the hearing, the CJI has asked that who is appearing for the State Bank of India, adding: "They have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India. If you see our judgment we had specified that."
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Asking the court to issue a notice to the bank, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated: "I am not appearing for the SBI. But the court may issue notice to the SBI since they may have something to say. I feel that they need to be here."
In response, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal referenced the operative segment of the court's judgment, emphasising that it was an 'inclusive' directive mandating the submission of all pertinent information.
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"We can raise objections to what the SBI has revealed," the chief justice also countered. He also disapproved of the State Bank's counsel not being present, to which SG Mehta said that they were not parties to the Election Commission's application.
Although initially reluctant, at the solicitor general's insistence, Chief Justice Chandrachud ultimately directed notice to be issued to the State Bank of India.
The bench also disposed of the Election Commission's application with no objection from any of the parties. It instructed the registrar general to ensure that the data filed by the commission is scanned and digitised by 5 PM tomorrow. Once this is complete, the original copy was directed be returned to the Election Commission of India. A copy of the scanned and digitised files will also be made available to them. Then, this data is to be uploaded on the Election Commission's website.