The Supreme Court is set to consider a plea for the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT). This is to probe alleged quid-pro-quo arrangements under the Electoral Bonds Scheme on Monday. This plea, along with other similar petitions, will be reviewed by the bench. The bench is led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter before the bench. He stated that the court scheduled the plea for an SIT investigation on Monday. He also requested the court to club another related petition, filed later and listed for hearing today, with the main petition. CJI Chandrachud assured Bhushan that the court would address all related cases concerning the Electoral Bonds Scheme on Monday.
He stated, “We will take the entire group on Monday.”
Background
The primary petition, filed in April, calls for an SIT to investigate alleged quid-pro-quo arrangements. This is between corporations and political parties facilitated through donations made via Electoral Bonds. This development follows the Supreme Court’s decision to declare the Electoral Bonds Scheme unconstitutional. Also, a violation of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The decision raised concerns about transparency and fairness. Thus, directing the State Bank of India to stop issuing further bonds and to publicly disclose transactions from April 12, 2019. Complying with this directive, the Election Commission of India uploaded the Electoral Bonds data on its website on March 14.
The petitioner claimed that the disclosed data showed corporations gave most bonds as quid pro quo to political parties in exchange for government contracts, protection from investigations, or favorable policy changes.
NGOs Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) filed the petition, alleging a multi-crore scam that requires an independent investigation under Supreme Court supervision.
Reliefs
The key reliefs sought by the petitioners include:
- A court-monitored SIT investigation into instances of apparent quid-pro-quo between public servants, political parties, commercial organisations, companies, officials of investigative agencies, and others.
- Direction to authorities to investigate the funding sources of shell companies and loss-making companies donating to political parties.
- Direction to recover amounts donated by companies to political parties as part of quid-pro-quo arrangements.
A subsequent petition also challenges the legitimacy of funds received by political parties through the Electoral Bond Scheme. It seeks directives for the Union, Election Commission of India, and Central Vigilance Commission to confiscate the amounts received under the scheme and requests the formation of a committee led by a former Supreme Court judge to investigate the alleged illegal benefits provided to donors by major political parties.
