[2024] 3 S.C.R. 637 : 2024 INSC 195
State Bank of India
v.
Association for Democratic Reforms and Others
(Miscellaneous Application No 486 of 2024
In
Writ Petition (Civil) No 880 of 2017)
WITH
(Contempt Petition (Civil) No 138 of 2024
In
Writ Petition (Civil) No 880 of 2017)
&
(Contempt Petition (Civil) No 140 of 2024
In
Writ Petition (Civil) No 59 of 2018)
11 March 2024
[Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI, Sanjiv Khanna,
B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, JJ.]
Issue for Consideration
This case pertains to a Miscellaneous Application filed by the State
Bank of India (SBI) seeking an extension of time until 30 June
2024 - two days before the expiry of the stipulated deadline - for
complying with the directions given by the Supreme Court in its
judgment dated 15 February 2024. Vide the aforesaid judgment,
the Court had directed the SBI, which was the authorized Bank
to deal with Electoral Bonds under the Electoral Bond Scheme,
to, inter alia, submit to the Election Commission of India (ECI),
details of the Electoral Bonds purchased by the contributors and
redeemed by political parties between 12 April 2019 till the date
of the judgment, by 6 March 2024. The Petitioners in this case -
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the Communist
Party of India (Marxist) - instituted a petition invoking the contempt
jurisdiction of this Court against SBI for wilful disobedience of the
order of this Court; Whether the directions issued by the Court
required the SBI to disclose information which is readily available
with it; as also, Whether the SBI is justified in seeking an extension
of time.
638 [2024] 3 S.C.R.
Digital Supreme Court Reports
Headnotes
Electoral Bonds – Directions to SBI in judgment dated 15
February 2024 – submission of the following details to the ECI
by 6 March 2024: (a) Details of each Electoral Bond purchased
including the date of purchase, the name of the purchaser
and the denomination of the Electoral Bond; (b) Details of
each Electoral Bond redeemed by political parties including
the date of encashment and the denomination of the Electoral
Bond – ECI to collate the information to be submitted by the
SBI and publish it on its website by 13 March 2024 [Paras 1-4]
Electoral Bonds – Extension of Time for Compliance with Court
Directions – SBI prayed for extension of time until 30 June
2024 for complying with the directions because: information
received by SBI maintained in two separate silos – Per SBI,
direction of this Court require a matching exercise – of the
details of donor and recipient political parties with respect
to a particular bond – Clause 7(4), Electoral Bond Scheme
– Electoral Bond information shall be disclosed when called
upon to do so by a competent court [Para 6-7]
Electoral Bonds – Matching of information – SBI submitted
information is not available in a digital format centrally – Donor
details and the recipient details are available in two separate
silos – At the end of each phase, details of the purchasers of
Electoral Bonds and information on the redemption of Electoral
Bonds (stored in a sealed cover and sent to the SBI, Mumbai
Branch – Matching of information in the two silos is a timeconsuming process – Large number of data sets to decipher:
total of 22,217 bonds were purchased between 12 April 2019
to 15 February 2024 – Total 44,434 data sets [Para 8]
Electoral Bonds – SBI MA dismissed – FAQs on Electoral
Bonds-Details of Purchasers readily available – Information
about a political party’s encashment readily available – Court
not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this stage
in the Petitioners’ contempt petition
Held: Operative directions of this Court directed the SBI to disclose
the transactions as set out in direction (b) and direction (c) of
para 219 of the Judgment – SBI submits that donor details and
redemption details are available in separate silos – The directions
which have been issued by this Court require the SBI to disclose
[2024] 3 S.C.R. 639
State Bank of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms and Others
the information which is readily available with it – FAQs on Electoral
Bonds published by the SBI – ‘Know Your Customer’ documents
must be submitted by the purchaser each time the Electoral Bond is
purchased, irrespective of whether the purchaser has a KYC verified
SBI account – One set of documents can only be used to purchase
one Electoral Bond – Contributors who have an SBI account as well
as those who do not have to submit the Electoral Bond application,
KYC documentation and proof of payment – Details of the Electoral
Bonds which have been purchased and which have been directed to
be disclosed by this Court are readily available – FAQs states that
each political party can open only one current account for Electoral
Bond redemption – Information about a political party’s encashment
of Electoral Bonds would only be stored in these branches which
would be clearly accessible – ADR submits that the information
which was directed to be disclosed by this Court can easily be
disclosed by the SBI because of the unique number which is printed
on the Electoral Bond – SBI application sufficiently indicate that the
information which has been directed to be disclosed by this Court is
readily available – Miscellaneous Application filed by the SBI seeking
an extension of time for disclosure of details of the purchase and
redemption of Electoral Bonds until 30 June 2024 dismissed – SBI
directed to disclose the details by the close of business hours on 12
March 2024 – ECI to compile the information and publish the details
on its official website no later than by 5 pm on 15 March 2024 – ECI
to forthwith publish details of the information supplied to the Court in
pursuance of the interim orders on its official website – Affidavit of
SBI Chairman and Managing Director upon compliance to be filed –
Court not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this stage
bearing in mind the application which was submitted for extension
of time – SBI placed on notice – Court will be inclined to proceed
against it for wilful disobedience of the judgment if SBI does not
comply with the directions of this Court as set out in its judgment
dated 15 February 2024 by the timelines indicated. [Paras 9-18]
Case Law Cited
Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr. v. Union of
India & Ors. [2024] 2 SCR 420 : 2024 INSC 113
List of Keywords
Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018; State Bank of India; Election
Commission of India; Matching; KYC; Disclosure; Extension; Donor;
Redemption; Contempt
640 [2024] 3 S.C.R.
Digital Supreme Court Reports
Case Arising From
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Miscellaneous Application No.486
of 2024
In
Writ Petition (Civil) No.880 of 2017
From the Judgment and Order dated 15.02.2024 in W.P. (C) No.880
of 2017 of the Supreme Court of India
With
Contempt Petition (Civil) No.138 of 2024 in Writ Petition (Civil) No.880
of 2017 and Contempt Petition (Civil) No.140 of 2024 in Writ Petition
(Civil) No.59 of 2018
Appearances for Parties
Tushar Mehta, SG, Harish Salve, R. Balasubramanium, Kapil Sibal,
Sr. Advs., Sanjay Kapur, Ms. Divya Singh Pundir, Devesh Dubey,
Ms. Mahima Kapur, Ms. Mansi Kapur, Mrs. Shubhra Kapur, Arjun
Bhatia, Surya Prakash, Ms. Isha Virmani, Prashant Bhushan, Ms.
Neha Rathi, Pranav Sachdeva, Ms. Kajal Giri, Ms. Shivani Kapoor,
Kamal Kishore, Shadan Farasat, Harshit Anand, Abhishek Babbar,
Ms. Hrishika Jain, Ms. Natasha Maheshwari, Ms. Mreganka Kukreja,
Aman Naqvi, Ms. Seema Bengani, Shyam Gopal, Ms. Shradha
Deshmukh, Chinmayee Chandra, Kanu Agrawal, Rajat Nair, Raman
Yadav, Chitvan Singhal, Abhishek Kr. Pandey, Kartikay Aggarwal,
Kukesh Kr. Singh, Ameyakirama Thanvi, Advs. for the appearing
parties.
Judgment / Order of the Supreme Court
Order
1. By a judgment dated 15 February 20241
, this Court declared the
Electoral Bond Scheme and the provisions of the Finance Act 2017
which amended the provisions of the Representation of People
Act 1951 and the Income Tax Act 1961, unconstitutional on the
ground that the non-disclosure of information regarding the funding
of political parties is violative of the right to information of citizens
1 2024 INSC 113
[2024] 3 S.C.R. 641
State Bank of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms and Others
under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The amendments which
were introduced by the Finance Act 2017 to the provisions of the
Companies Act 2013, permitting unlimited funding of political parties
by corporate entities were held to be arbitrary and violative of Article
14 of the Constitution.
2. In order to give full effect to the judgment which was rendered by
the Constitution Bench, this Court directed the State Bank of India2
,
which was the authorized Bank to deal with Electoral Bonds under
the Electoral Bond Scheme to submit details of the Electoral Bonds
purchased by the contributors and redeemed by political parties
between 12 April 2019 (the date on which an interim order was
passed by this Court directing the Election Commission of India3
to
collect details of the contributions) till 15 February 2024 (the date
of the judgment).
3. This Court directed the SBI to submit the following details by 6 March
2024 to the ECI:
(a) Details of each Electoral Bond purchased including the date
of purchase, the name of the purchaser and the denomination
of the Electoral Bond; and
(b) Details of each Electoral Bond redeemed by political parties
including the date of encashment and the denomination of the
Electoral Bond.
4. The ECI was directed to collate the information to be submitted by the
SBI and publish it on its website by 13 March 2024. The directions
of this Court are extracted below:
“219. In view of our discussion above, the following
directions are issued:
a. The issuing bank shall herewith stop the issuance of
Electoral Bonds;
b. SBI shall submit details of the Electoral Bonds purchased
since the Interim order of this Court dated 12 April 2019
till date to the ECI. The details shall include the date of
2 “SBI”
3 “ECI”
642 [2024] 3 S.C.R.
Digital Supreme Court Reports
purchase of each Electoral Bond, the name of the purchaser
of the bond and the denomination of the Electoral Bond
purchased;
c. SBI shall submit the details of political parties which have
received contributions through Electoral Bonds since the
interim order of this Court dated 12 April 2019 till date to
the ECI. SBI must disclose details of each Electoral Bond
encashed by political parties which shall Include the date of
encashment and the denomination of the Electoral Bond;
d. SBI shall submit the above information to the ECI within
three weeks from the date of this judgment, that is, by 6
March 2024;
e. The ECI shall publish the information shared by the SBI
on Its official website within one week of the receipt of the
Information, that is, by 13 March 2024; and
f. Electoral Bonds which are within the validity period of
fifteen days but that which have not been encashed by the
political party yet shall be returned by the political party
or the purchaser depending on who is in possession of
the bond to the issuing bank. The Issuing bank, upon the
return of the valid bond, shall refund the amount to the
purchaser’s account.”
5. The SBI filed a Miscellaneous Application before this Court two days
before the expiry of the deadline seeking an extension of time until 30
June 2024 for complying with the directions. The petitioners before
this Court – Association for Democratic Reforms4
and the Communist
Party of India (Marxist) – instituted a petition invoking the contempt
jurisdiction of this Court against SBI for willful disobedience of the
order of this Court.
6. In support of the application by the SBI, we have heard Mr Harish N
Salve, senior counsel. Mr Salve submitted that the information which
was received by the SBI was maintained in two separate silos and
was maintained with the utmost secrecy to fulfill the core purpose of
the Electoral Bond Scheme. The learned Senior counsel submitted
4 “ADR”
[2024] 3 S.C.R. 643
State Bank of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms and Others
that there is no difficulty in the disclosure of information available in
two separate silos which are referred to in (b) and (c) of the operative
directions. The counsel submitted that this exercise can be completed
within three weeks. However, it is submitted that the difficulty of SBI
arose since it construed the direction of this Court as requiring it to
carry out a matching exercise of the donor and bond details with the
corresponding details pertaining to encashment by political parties.
7. While evaluating the submission made on behalf of the SBI, a reference
to some of the key aspects of the Scheme would be in order at this
stage. Clause 7(4) of the Electoral Bond Scheme stipulates that the
information furnished by the buyer of an Electoral Bond shall be
treated as confidential by the authorized bank and shall be disclosed
only when called upon to do so by a competent court or upon the
registration of an offence by a law enforcement agency. Thus, in terms
of the provisions of the Electoral Bond Scheme itself, SBI is mandated
to disclose information when demanded by a court. What has to be
analyzed is whether SBI is justified in seeking an extension of time.
8. The SBI seeks an extension of time on the ground that the process
of “decoding the Electoral Bonds and matching the donor to the
donations” is a complex and time-consuming exercise. To substantiate
this argument, the SBI has averred that:
(a) Information is not available in a digital format: Clause 7.1.2
of the Standard Operating Procedure regarding the sale and
redemption of Electoral Bonds stipulates that “no details of bond
purchaser including KYC and other details will be entered in
the core banking system.” Thus, the details of the purchases
of bonds are not available centrally;
(b) The donor details and the recipient details are available in two
separate silos: The details of the purchasers of Electoral Bonds
were kept in a sealed cover at the designated branch. These
sealed covers were deposited in the main branch of the SBI in
Mumbai at the end of each phase of the issuance of the Electoral
Bonds. The information on the redemption of Electoral Bonds
(that is, the original bond and the pay-in slip) were stored in a
sealed cover and sent to the SBI, Mumbai Branch;
(c) Matching of information in the two silos is a time-consuming
process: The matching of the information on the purchase and
644 [2024] 3 S.C.R.
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redemption of Electoral Bonds would be a time-consuming
process since donor information and redemption information is
maintained in two separate silos, independent of each other; and
(d) There is a large number of data sets to decipher: A total of
22,217 bonds were purchased between 12 April 2019 to 15
February 2024. This would cumulatively add up to 44,434 data
sets since there are two silos of information. In other words,
the compilation of this information would be a time-consuming
process because of the large number of data-sets.
9. The crux of the submission of the SBI 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. The operative directions of this Court directed the SBI
to disclose the transactions as set out in direction (b) and direction
(c) extracted above. The SBI submits in its application itself that the
donor details and redemption details are available, albeit in separate
silos. In other words, the directions which have been issued by this
Court require the SBI to disclose the information which is readily
available with it.
10. At this stage, it would be material to refer to the FAQs on Electoral
Bonds published by the SBI which states that the ‘Know Your
Customer’5
documents must be submitted by the purchaser each
time the Electoral Bond is purchased, irrespective of whether the
purchaser has a KYC verified SBI account6
. That is, one set of
documents (the Electoral Bond application form, KYC documents
and pay-in slip) can only be used to purchase one Electoral Bond7
.
Contributors who have an SBI account as well as those who do not
have to submit the Electoral Bond application, KYC documentation
and proof of payment through NEFT, cheque or demand draft.8
Thus,
5 “KYC”
6 FAQ Question No. 16. I have an SBI Bank Account, Do I still need to Re-submit the KYC Documents?
Yes. KYC norms will be applicable regardless of whether the applicant is an SBI account holder or a
non-SBI account holder.
7 FAQ Question No. 45. Can I use more than one Instrument with one Electoral Bond Application Form?
No. On single set Documents i.e. Electoral Bond Application Form, KYC Documents, Citizenship
Documents and Pay-in slip for purchase of Electoral Bonds, Donor can use only one Instrument. In case
Donor desires to use another Instrument, he/she has to submit another set of documents i.e. Electoral
Bond Application Form, KYC Documents, Citizenship Documents and Pay-in slip to the Authorized SBI
Branch.
8 FAQ Question No. 19: I am not maintaining account with any Branch of State Bank of India. How can
[2024] 3 S.C.R. 645
State Bank of India v. Association for Democratic Reforms and Others
the details of the Electoral Bonds which have been purchased and
which have been directed to be disclosed by this Court are readily
available.
11. Similarly, the FAQs on Electoral Bonds published by the SBI with
respect to redemption of Bonds states that each political party can
open only one current account for Electoral Bond redemption.9
The
current account could be opened by the political party only in twentynine designated branches all over the country. Thus, information
about a political party’s encashment of Electoral Bonds would only
be stored in these branches which would be clearly accessible. The
authorized branches must submit the pay-in-slip and other details to
the main branch. There is no dispute about the fact that this process
was duly followed.
12. Together with the application which has been filed by the SBI for
the extension of time, ADR has filed a contempt petition in which it
submits that the information which was directed to be disclosed by
this Court can easily be disclosed by the SBI because of the unique
number which is printed on the Electoral Bond. Irrespective of whether
the unique identification number which is not discernible to the naked
eye will enable the disclosure of details, the submissions of SBI in
I purchase Electoral Bond? Purchaser not maintaining account with State Bank of India can purchase
Electoral Bond through a. Cheque / DD drawn in favour of the Authorized SBI Branch and payable at
the local Clearing House.
Steps involved:
i. Purchaser submits the Electoral Bond Application Form alongwith pay-in-slip, Citizenship &
KYC documents and Cheque/ DD at Authorized SBI Branch. The same need to be submitted
at least three working days before the closure of the scheme, so that clear funds for issuance of
Electoral Bonds, are available with the Authorized SBI Branch. In case of payment through DD, a
confirmation letter from the DD issuance Branch on the prescribed format should also be provided.
ii. The Cheque/ DD should be in favour of “State Bank of India A/c Electoral Bond Scheme -2018”
iii. Once the Citizenship and KYC documents are verified the instrument will be sent in clearing.
Tear off portion of pay-in-slip will be handed over to the Applicant. On the third working day the
Purchaser/ Authorised Representative need to visit the Branch with the tear off portion of pay-inslip and collect the EB from the Branch against acknowledgment.
9 FAQ Question No. 4. For redemption of Electoral Bond, can a Political Party open Current Account with
any Bank? No. The Current Account will be opened only in the presently 4 Authorized SBI
Branches as under:
(i) Chennai Main Branch (00800) : 84, Rajaji Salai, Chennai – 600001
(ii) Kolkata Main Branch (00001) : Samriddhi Bhawan, 1, Strand Road, Kolkata –700001
(iii) Mumbai Main Branch (00300) : Horniman Circle, Fort, Mumbai – 400001
(iv) New Delhi Main Branch (00691) : 11, Parliament Street, New Delhi – 110 001.
This was updated to 29 Branches later.
646 [2024] 3 S.C.R.
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the application sufficiently indicate that the information which has
been directed to be disclosed by this Court is readily available.
13. In view of the discussion, the Miscellaneous Application filed by the
SBI seeking an extension of time for the disclosure of details of the
purchase and redemption of Electoral Bonds until 30 June 2024 is
dismissed. SBI is directed to disclose the details by the close of
business hours on 12 March 2024.
14. ECI shall compile the information and publish the details on its official
website no later than by 5 pm on 15 March 2024.
15. During the pendency of the proceedings before the Constitution
Bench, ECI had, in compliance with the interim order passed by
this Court, filed its statements which have been maintained in the
custody of the Court. Copies of the statements which were filed by
the ECI before this Court would be maintained in the Office of the
ECI. ECI shall forthwith publish the details of the information which
was supplied to this Court in pursuance of the interim orders on its
official website.
16. The SBI shall file an affidavit of its Chairman and Managing Director
upon compliance with the directions which have been issued above.
We are not inclined to exercise the contempt jurisdiction at this stage
bearing in mind the application which was submitted for extension
of time. However, we place SBI on notice that this Court will be
inclined to proceed against it for willful disobedience of the judgment
if SBI does not comply with the directions of this Court as set out
in its judgment dated 15 February 2024 by the timelines indicated
in this order.
17. The Miscellaneous Application for extension of time shall accordingly
stand dismissed. The Contempt Petitions shall stand disposed of at
this stage in the above terms.
18. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
Headnotes prepared by: Result of the case:
Harshit Anand, Hony. Associate Editor Miscellaneous Application
(Verified by: Shadan Farasat, Adv.) by the SBI dismissed.
Contempt Petitions disposed of.
