SBI appears to be shielding Centre from criticism on electoral bonds, say former bureaucrats

The State Bank of India’s request to the Supreme Court to extend the deadline to disclose information on electoral bonds indicates that it is shielding the Union government from criticism, a group of retired civil servants said on Saturday in a letter to the Election Commission.

The Supreme Court had on February 15 struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional, saying that it could lead to quid pro quo arrangements between donors and political parties. The court had also directed the State Bank of India to issue details of the political parties that received electoral bonds from April 12, 2019, and submit them to the Election Commission by March 6.

The State Bank of India on March 4 requested the top court to extend till June 30 the deadline for providing information relating to electoral bonds to the Election Commission.

On Saturday, the former bureaucrats, who are part of the Constitutional Conduct Group, said that a “pathetic excuse” had been given by “India’s largest bank with 48 crore accounts and boasting high levels of digitisation” that its records were stored manually.

The letter to the Election Commission said that former general secretary of the All India Banking Officers Confederation Thomas Franco had pointed out that the State Bank of India had in 2018 requested the...

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