Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, who was economic affairs secretary when electoral bonds were first introduced, says that the State Bank of India needs “not more than a day” to make available the electoral bond information the Supreme Court has asked the bank to give to the Election Commission. Garg says “this information is readily available”, adding, “it is available at the click of a button”.
In an interview to The Wire, Garg says that the State Bank of India has either deliberately misconstrued or failed to understand the simple nature of the six bits of information that they are required to give to the Election Commission and, instead, the bank claims that it has been asked to collate different bits of information which it was not asked to do. In other words, the bank has made the simple things required of it seem more complicated and long drawn out than is the case. This has given the SBI the basis on which to argue that it needs three and a half months more, pushing the deadline to June 30.
Garg explained that the Supreme Court simply asked for six simple bits of information: who purchased the bonds, the date and the amount and also which party received the bonds, when they were encashed and the amount. This information is readily available. The electoral bond guidelines of 2018 themselves require that it should be given to any court when demanded and Justice Deepak Gupta has revealed that he was part of a Supreme Court bench which in 2019 ordered the bank to maintain such records.
Garg also said he believes that in 2019 details of electoral bonds sold up to that date were given to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope. At the time the bank did not need or ask for extra time. Why do they need extra time to give similar details for the period post 2019?
Garg believes that by failing to meet the March 6 deadline set up by the Supreme Court, the State Bank of India is already guilty of contempt of court. In fact, the Association for Democratic Reforms has today filed a contempt case against the SBI.
Has this become a test case for the SBI’s image and integrity? How embarrassed will the management of the SBI be today? What would be the impact if the bank is found guilty of contempt? Those are some of the other issues touched upon in this interview.
