Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on March 7 said the Supreme Court would consider listing a contempt petition against State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khera for seeking time till June 30 to provide complete details of electoral bonds purchased since April 2019 to anonymously fund political parties.
The contempt petition, filed jointly by petitioners Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Common Cause, said the Supreme Court, while striking down the electoral bonds scheme as a threat to electoral democracy, had directed the SBI to share details of the bonds sold to anonymous donors and political parties who had benefited from the transactions to the Election Commission of India by March 6, 2024. The Election Commission was ordered to publish the data obtained from the bank on its official website by March 13.
However, the bank has put a spoke in the wheel by filing a nine-page application in the Supreme Court on March 4, just two days before the deadline. The bank said it needed time till June end to provide the Election Commission details about the bonds. The information and documents were scattered across its various branches and decoding them was tough and would take time.
