Supreme Court to consider contempt plea against SBI
A day after the deadline for the State Bank of India (SBI) to submit details of electoral bonds (EBs) purchased since April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India (ECI) ended, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) approached the Supreme Court on Thursday demanding contempt action against the public sector bank for defying the court’s directive.
ADR, a non-profit organisation which is the lead petitioner in the judgment striking down the Centre’s 2018 EB scheme, mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud seeking a hearing on March 11 when the SBI’s application for extension of time till June 30 is likely to be taken up.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan submitted before the CJI that the ADR has sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the SBI for abiding by the court-mandated deadline of March 6 to submit full details of EBs purchased since April 12, 2019, to the ECI.
Responding, justice Chandrachud, who headed the bench in the EB case, said that the contempt plea will come up with the SBI’s plea if the petition has been duly numbered and verified.
Bhushan assured the court that he would complete the formalities.
On March 4, the SBI had moved its plea for extension of time till June 30 arguing that “decoding” the data and matching donors to the donations would be a “complex process”.