New Delhi: The State Bank of India is “duty bound” and has to disclose the unique alpha numeric numbers of the electoral bonds received by political parties, the Supreme Court said on Friday while seeking a response from the bank for not doing so.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the apex court in its verdict on electoral bonds case had directed the disclosure of all the details of bonds, including the purchaser, amount and date of purchase. All details have to be furnished by the SBI, the CJI observed a day after the Election Commission put out the entire list of entities that have purchased electoral bonds for making political donations. The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, issued notice to the SBI and posted the matter for hearing on March 18. “Who is appearing for the SBI? Because in our judgement, we had directed disclosure specifically of all details of the bonds including the purchaser, the amount and the date of purchase. They have not disclosed the bond numbers. That has to be disclosed by the SBI,” the CJI said, pulling up the bank. The unique alpha numeric numbers would match those who had purchased the electoral bonds to the parties they were donating to. “They (SBI) have not disclosed the bond numbers. That has to be disclosed by the SBI,” the CJI said. “But really speaking, we can take exception to what they have disclosed because they were duty bound,” he added.

The apex court was hearing an application filed by the Election Commission seeking a modification of the operative portion of its March 11 order in the electoral bonds case. It directed the registrar (judicial) to ensure that the data filed earlier by the poll panel before it in a sealed cover be scanned and digitised

Press Trust of India