Supreme Court to hear petitions demanding SIT probe into electoral bond scheme on July 22

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said that the matters would come up on Monday next week after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner non-profit organisations, Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), mentioned the matter.

Bhushan pointed out that while the petitions filed by the NGO are yet to come up for hearing, a similar petition by RTI activist Sudip Tamankar was listed on Friday. Senior counsel Vijay Hansaria, representing Tamankar, submitted that he has no problem if his petition is also listed on July 22 with the other petition.

Responding, the CJI said that the entire batch of matter will be listed on July 22.

Filed in April, the NGOs’ petition claimed that the EB data released in March on the orders of the Supreme Court shows that the bulk of these were given as “quid pro quo” arrangements by corporates to political parties either for fiscal gains or for avoiding actions by central agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department.