The Supreme Court is set to hear an application from the State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday, March 11, regarding the extension of the deadline for disclosing electoral bond donor details to the Election Commission of India (EC). SBI has requested an extension till June 30.

A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, would hear the plea.

Secondly, the top court will also hear a contempt petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) against SBI. The ADR alleges that the bank willfully disobeyed the court's order by missing the March 6 deadline.

On February 15, the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional. It directed the SBI to furnish details of all electoral bond purchases since April 12, 2019, to the EC by March 6. It further directed this information to be published on the EC website by March 13.

SBI, however, approached the Court on March 4 seeking more time, citing the "time-consuming" nature of the process due to anonymity protocols surrounding the donors.

The ADR’s contempt petition termed the SBI’s plea for extension as "mala fide" and accused the bank of deliberately delaying disclosure to shield donor identities before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Source: India Today