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SC refers pleas challenging validity of electoral bond scheme to Constitution bench
The case will be heard on October 30.
The Supreme Court on Monday referred pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme for political funding to a Constitution bench, PTI reported.
The case will be heard on October 30.
The electoral bond scheme was first announced by former finance minister Arun Jaitley during the 2017 budget session and was notified in January 2018 as a source of political funding by way of money bills introducing amendments in the Finance Act and the Representation of the People Act.
Under the scheme, bonds are available for purchase at any SBI branch in multiples of ₹1,000, ₹10,000, ₹1 lakh, Rs10 lakh and ₹1 crore and can be bought through a KYC-compliant account. There is no limit on the number of electoral bonds that a person or company can purchase.
Several petitions before the Supreme Court claimed that such an anonymous route of funding amounted to legitimising bribery as corporates could fund the party in power in a state or Centre as a matter of quid pro quo.
On October 11, after a gap of more than two years, a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud fixed October 31 and November 1 to finally hear the petitions against the scheme.
He said that the arguments in the matter would be wrapped up within two dates and had directed the Centre and other parties to submit their written submissions.
The bench, also comprising of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, also clarified that the issue of whether some of the amendments that made the issue of these bonds possible should have been passed as a money bill (the route taken by the government), will not be heard by the bench because a seven-judge bench is hearing a separate case on when a bill can be designated a money bill.
