New Delhi , State Bank of India (SBI) has refused to provide details of electoral bonds given to the Election Commission under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. SBI said the records are public on the commission's website. SBI said that this is personal information kept safely.
The bank says that this is personal information, which has been kept with itself in a responsible capacity. SBI also said that despite this, complete details of electoral bonds are available in the public domain on the Election Commission's website.
The court had also directed the Commission to make the related details public on its website by March 13. The Commission had published on its website on March 14 the data submitted by SBI, which included details of donors purchasing the bonds and political parties encashing them.
RTI activist Commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra had contacted SBI on March 13 asking for complete data of electoral bonds in digital form. He had demanded to give the same details which were made available to the Election Commission after the order of the Supreme Court.
Exempted as per law, in response to the RTI, the bank said that the information sought by you includes details of buyers and political parties, hence it cannot be disclosed. There is exemption from giving such information under Section 8(1)(e) and (j) of the RTI Act.
Lokesh Batra said that it is strange that SBI refused to provide the information which is already available on the Election Commission's website. On the question of Salve's fees, he said that the bank refused to give that information, which also involved taxpayers' money.
