SBI refuses to disclose electoral bonds' details under RTI Act.
SBI refuses electoral bond details citing RTI Act. Supreme Court criticizes bank for withholding information.
Despite the full availability of data on the Election Commission website, the State Bank of India (SBI) declined to disclose electoral bond details, citing them as personal information held in a fiduciary capacity. The public bank referenced the RTI Act in its refusal to divulge information regarding the now-defunct scheme. RTI activist Commodore (retired) Lokesh Batra approached SBI on March 13 to request complete digital data on electoral bonds, as provided to the EC following a Supreme Court order. Despite this data being publicly accessible on the Election Commission website, the bank cited two RTI Act exemption clauses – section 8(1)(e) pertaining to records held in a fiduciary capacity, and section 8(1)(j) allowing withholding of personal information – to justify its refusal. SBI's response to the RTI activist stated, "The information you seek contains details of purchasers and political parties, hence cannot be disclosed as it is held in a fiduciary capacity, disclosure of which is exempted under sections 8(1)(e) and (j) of the RTI Act." Batra expressed astonishment at SBI's reluctance to disclose information already available in the public domain.
Additionally, Batra requested details of the legal fees for senior advocate Harish Salve, who represented SBI in the Supreme Court regarding the disclosure of electoral bonds data. On this matter, the bank declined to provide information involving taxpayers' money. On March 14, the Election Commission published electoral bonds data provided by SBI on its official website, revealing donors, amounts, and political parties that utilized the bonds.
The Supreme Court, on March 15, reprimanded SBI for not furnishing complete information, particularly the unique numbers of each electoral bond that would facilitate matching donors with recipient political parties, emphasizing the bank's duty to disclose such information.
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