SC rebuke sends out clear message

The Supreme Court’s dismissal of the State Bank of India’s (SBI) plea to extend the time for submission of the details of the Electoral Bonds is a damning indictment of the Bank’s bid to delay and postpone the exercise till well after the General Elections were over.

The Court’s fresh directive to submit the details by the end of the business hours on March 12 i.e., Tuesday, should be seen as a curt assertion of its authority to seek information that has bearing on the outcome of election and the voters’ right to know the funding of the machinery of the party ruling the Centre since May 2014.

The dismissal will be welcomed by all those desirous of transparency in public life and more so exposure of the Bank’s suspected bid to obfuscate the facts so vital in making their choice prior to the elections, the schedule for which is to be announced shortly.

The five-judge bench has very rightly observed that it had merely wanted bare details available upon opening of the sealed cover and had not asked the bank to collate the details and match the donor and the donee, the reason cited by the Bank in seeking time till June 30 pleading that such details were kept in two different silos.

The dismissal of the Bank’s plea is reflective of Court’s earnestness in bringing the facts before the electorate. The court also questioned as to what the Bank was doing during the last 26 days in the matter.

It was evident from the SBI’s reply that its plea for 116 days extension was specious and untenable especially when it itself had declared in an RTI response that it was capable of furnishing any details pertaining to the track of the Electoral Bonds within 48 hours.

The Court’s rebuke comes as a solace for all those who are trying to uphold transparency in governance and commitment to and compliance with probity by those running the affairs of the government. In doing so the Court has sent the message loud and clear.