The Supreme Court on Tuesday posed several tough questions to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as it heard the pleas challenging the electoral bonds scheme.
A constitutional bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, J.B. Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, is hearing the case.
The bench posed many questioned SG Mehta based on submissions made by the petitioners against the constitutional validity of the electoral bond scheme.
While raising the issue of selective anonymity, CJI Chandrachud remarked that the scheme is not completely anonymous. He also questioned the SG as to whether there was any statuary obligation on the State Bank of India (SBI) to not reveal the details of the donations made through electoral bonds to the government or any law enforcement agency.
“The problem with the scheme is that it provides selective anonymity. It’s not completely anonymous. It’s not confidential qua the SBI. It’s not confidential qua the law enforcement agency. So a large donor would never take the risk of buying the Electoral Bonds,” he said.