SC Bar President Seeks Checks Against Electoral Bonds Data Misuse By NGOs

way2barak, march 19: Supreme Court Bar Association president Adish C Aggarwala urges for reconsideration of the SC’s direction for putting in the public domain all details of electoral bonds in sync with voters’ right to information but stressed that the court had no mechanism to stop the trend of NGOs misinterpreting and misusing the data to mislead voters.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta repeatedly told a five-judge bench led by CJI D Y Chandrachud that the govt was completely in agreement with the SC’s Feb 15 judgment and March 11 direction for complete disclosure of EB information. But he also flagged what he described as the unintended consequence of the verdict. “I want to point out that the court did not intend what is playing out in public regarding the EB scheme, by which govt wanted to stop circulation of black money as donations to political parties. NGOs are fudging and misinterpreting the figures and attempting to misguide voters and the court,” Mehta said.

Appreciating but not accepting the concerns of Mehta as also senior advocate Harish Salve on potential misuse of EB data, the CJI said, “The SC is concerned only about the enforcement of the direction it had issued. As judges, we decide according to the Constitution. We are governed by the rule of law. We are also subjected to comments on social media. As an institution, our shoulders are broad enough. We as a court have an institutional role to play in a polity governed by the Constitution and rule of law.”

Salve, appearing for SBI, said, “The bank will give every bit of information, whether relevant or not relevant. It should put to rest speculation that SBI is holding back information about EBs.

“The SC judgment is one of the leading ones on transparency, voters’ rights and balancing democracy and competing virtues while minimising the role of money in politics. One thing the judgment was not meant for and not designed for is to give new life to a now dormant PIL industry… this should not become fodder for the next 10 years for PILs to keep hounding industrialists, which I don’t think is the purpose of the judgment. The SC may think of putting in whatever safeguards it intends in this regard.” he added.