Warning of Contempt, Supreme Court Slams SBI For “Wilful Disobedience”

The State Bank of India was pleading with the court to postpone the date of March 6th for disclosing all donor and beneficiary data about electoral bonds

New Delhi: The State Bank of India was severely reprimanded by the Supreme Court on Monday for “wilful disobedience” of the directive issued last month requiring the submission of information regarding the contributors and receivers of electoral bonds by March 6.
In a major move, the court threatened to hold SBI in contempt if it didn’t provide this information by tomorrow at the latest. In addition, the court ordered the Chairman and Managing Director of SBI, the biggest bank in India with a 23% market share, to submit an affidavit upon compliance.

“While we are not inclined to exercise contempt jurisdiction at this time, we place SBI on notice that this court may be inclined to proceed against it for wilful disobedience if it does not comply with directions by timelines indicated in this order,” the judge stated.

The Election Commission of India was also instructed by a bench chaired by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud to gather and post all electoral bond data on its website by Friday at 5 p.m.

The Supreme Court was considering a request from the SBI to postpone the deadline of March 6th for disclosing all donor and beneficiary data about electoral bonds.

The bank contended that gathering, verifying, and releasing the data—which was kept secret on both ends and kept in two “silos”—would require a significant amount of time. “A little more time is needed for us to comply. This is supposed to be a secret, so we were told.”

The bank requested an extension until June 30, a date that would have passed the general election.

In response, the court stated that the bank just needed to “open covers, collate details, and give information” because donor details were already available at the SBI branch in Mumbai. The Chief Justice then enquired as to what work the bank had finished since its 26-day initial directive. “Tell me about the matches you made during the last 26 days. A certain level of transparency is anticipated from SBI,” he said.

Read also:-The Google Phone App Could Soon Provide Video Calling Shortcuts and Display WhatsApp Call History

The Association for Democratic Reform, or ADR, which was one of the initial opponents of the government’s 2017 electoral bonds program, also presented arguments to the court today. Its purpose was to enable complete anonymity for political donations made by people, organizations, and corporations alike.

The State Bank of India was the target of a contempt suit brought by the ADR since it had “wilfully and deliberately” ignored the court’s ruling in this case. According to the ADR, the purpose of the postponement was to hide donor information ahead of the April/May Lok Sabah election.

“It is argued that the aforementioned application is fraudulent and shows willful and intentional disregard for the ruling made by this court’s Constitution bench.

The Supreme Court declared the electoral bond program “unconstitutional” and that it infringed on the right to information of the people last month in a historic decision. The poll panel was instructed to make this information public by March 13 and the SBI to disclose all bond data by March 6.