SC Rejects SBI’s Plea for More Time, Asks For Electoral Bonds Details in 24 Hours

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the State Bank Of India's plea seeking more time to furnish details regarding electoral bonds to the Election Commission (EC). SC has asked the bank to disclose the details by business hours of March 12. The apex court also directed the Election Commission to publish information shared by SBI by March 15. The SBI had failed to meet the court’s March 6 deadline to provide the information and had sought an extension till June 30. The plea was heard by a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra.

The bench expressed its displeasure over the delay and asked the SBI to open the sealed cover containing the details of the electoral bonds and collate the information for the EC.

“SBI has to just open sealed cover, collate details and give information to Election Commission,” the bench said. The bench also questioned the SBI on what steps it had taken in the last 26 days to comply with the court’s order.

“In the last 26 days, what steps have you taken? Your application is silent on that,” the bench told the SBI. The bench reminded the SBI that it had asked for a plain disclosure of the details as per its judgment. “We have asked you to do plain disclosure as per our judgment,” the bench said.