Electoral bond case: Will the Supreme Court extend the deadline, Important hearing on SBI's application today, important points

India : The Supreme Court had canceled the electoral bond scheme in a historic decision on 15 February.

Electoral Bonds Issue: Supreme Court to hear today State Bank of India's (SBI's) plea seeking extension of deadline till June 30 to disclose details of each Electoral Bond encashed by political parties. Has gone. The question is whether the Supreme Court will extend the deadline?

There is an important hearing in the Supreme Court today in the electoral bond case. Apart from this case, Chief Justice D.Y. The bench headed by Chandrachud will also hear a separate petition, which has sought initiation of contempt proceedings against SBI. 

In this petition related to the electoral bond case, it has been alleged that SBI 'deliberately' disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit the details of donations received by political parties to the Election Commission by March 6. 

The petition, filed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause, claimed that SBI's application seeking time was deliberately filed at the last minute to ensure that the donors did not get the time. And the amount of donation should not be disclosed before the Lok Sabha elections.

According to the list of cases to be heard in the Supreme Court today, the bench will sit at 10.30 am to hear these two petitions. The bench comprised Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra. 

SBI has argued in its application that it will take time to complete the process. It has been said in the application that 'decoding' the electoral bonds and matching the donations with the donors will be a complex process. 

The petition argues, "The data related to the issuance of bonds and the data related to conversion of bonds into cash are kept in two different places. This was done to protect the privacy of the donors. The details of the amount have been kept in sealed covers in the specified branches (of the bank) and these sealed covers have been deposited in the main branch of the petitioner bank which is in Mumbai."

In a historic decision on February 15, the Supreme Court had struck down the electoral bond scheme, terming it 'unconstitutional' and directing the Election Commission to disclose the donors, amount given as donations and recipients by March 13. Had ordered.

Now only 2 days are left for the deadline given to SBI Bank in the Supreme Court in the electoral bond case to end. However, SBI has already raised its hand in this matter and filed a petition in the court. 

While ordering the immediate closure of the scheme, the Supreme Court had directed SBI, the bank authorized under it, to submit the details of electoral bonds purchased from April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission by March 6. Also, the Commission was asked to publish this information on its website by March 13.

On March 4, SBI had moved the apex court seeking extension of time till June 30 to disclose details of electoral bonds encashed by political parties.