The Crossbill News Desk
The Supreme Court on Friday (July 19) announced that a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a court-monitored investigation into the electoral bonds scheme will be heard on July 22.
A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, acknowledged lawyer Prashant Bhushan's submissions and scheduled the hearing for Monday on the PIL filed by two NGOs — Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), news agency PTI reported.
The bench stated that a similar plea, originally scheduled for Friday, will also be heard together with the previous PIL on July 22.
The PIL, filed by the two NGOs alleges an "apparent quid pro quo" involving political parties, corporations, and investigative agencies.
Describing the electoral bonds scheme as a "scam," the plea requested authorities to investigate the source of funding from "shell companies and loss-making companies" that reportedly made donations to various political parties, based on data disclosed by the Election Commission (EC).
The petition has additionally requested authorities to recover the money donated by companies, particularly in cases where these donations are found to be part of "quid pro quo arrangements" and considered proceeds of crime.
After the Supreme Court's judgment, the State Bank of India, the authorized financial institution under the scheme, shared the data with the Election Commission (EC), which subsequently made it public.
The electoral bonds scheme, introduced by Narendra Modi government on January 2, 2018, was promoted as an alternative to cash donations to political parties, aimed at enhancing transparency in political funding.
“The electoral bond scam has a money trail unlike the 2G scam or the coal scam, where allocations of spectrum and coal mining leases were arbitrarily made, but there was no evidence of a money trail. Yet this court ordered court-monitored investigations in both those cases, appointed special public prosecutors and formed special courts to deal with those cases,” the plea said, quoted PTI.
A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, acknowledged lawyer Prashant Bhushan's submissions and scheduled the hearing for Monday on the PIL filed by two NGOs — Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), news agency PTI reported.
The bench stated that a similar plea, originally scheduled for Friday, will also be heard together with the previous PIL on July 22.
The PIL, filed by the two NGOs alleges an "apparent quid pro quo" involving political parties, corporations, and investigative agencies.
Describing the electoral bonds scheme as a "scam," the plea requested authorities to investigate the source of funding from "shell companies and loss-making companies" that reportedly made donations to various political parties, based on data disclosed by the Election Commission (EC).
The petition has additionally requested authorities to recover the money donated by companies, particularly in cases where these donations are found to be part of "quid pro quo arrangements" and considered proceeds of crime.
After the Supreme Court's judgment, the State Bank of India, the authorized financial institution under the scheme, shared the data with the Election Commission (EC), which subsequently made it public.
The electoral bonds scheme, introduced by Narendra Modi government on January 2, 2018, was promoted as an alternative to cash donations to political parties, aimed at enhancing transparency in political funding.
“The electoral bond scam has a money trail unlike the 2G scam or the coal scam, where allocations of spectrum and coal mining leases were arbitrarily made, but there was no evidence of a money trail. Yet this court ordered court-monitored investigations in both those cases, appointed special public prosecutors and formed special courts to deal with those cases,” the plea said, quoted PTI.
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