SC junks pleas seeking review of scrapping e-bond scheme

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a batch of pleas seeking review of its February 15 verdict, which had scrapped the Modi government's electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said there is no error apparent on the face of the record. The top court also rejected the prayer for listing the review petitions in an open court. "Having perused the review petitions, there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013. The review petitions are, therefore, dismissed," the bench said in its order dated September 25 that was uploaded on Saturday. The review pleas filed by advocate Mathews J Nedumpara and others contended that the matter related to the scheme falls in the exclusive domain of legislative and executive policy. "The court failed to notice that even assuming the issue is justiciable, the petitioners therein having not claimed any specific legal injury exclusive to them, their petition could not have been decided as if a private litigation for the enforcement of rights which are specific and exclusive to them," Nedumpara had submitted in his plea.

He had said the court failed to notice that the public opinion could be sharply divided and the majority of the people of this country could probably be in support of the scheme, brought into existence by their elected representatives, and that they too have a right to be heard as much as the petitioners. "The court failed to notice that, if at all it is venturing into the forbidden domain of adjudicating upon a matter of legislative policy, they have a duty to hear the public at large and that the proceedings ought to be converted into representative proceedings," the plea had said. Holding that the 2018 electoral bond scheme was "violative" of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression and right to information, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Chandrachud had scrapped the scheme. The top court had also directed the State Bank of India (SBI), the authorised financial institution under the scheme, to submit the details of electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission, which was asked to publish the information on its official website.