TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (8) TMI 841
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....shnan, AOR Ms. Kavya Jhawar, Adv. Ms. Nandini Rai, Adv. Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv. Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR Mr. Abhay Nair, Adv. Ms. Arunima Das, Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Pratap, Adv. Mr. Jatin Bhardwaj, Adv. ORDER 1. A batch of four petitions has been instituted before this Court invoking its jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution. 2. In Association for Democratic Reforms & Anr Vs. Union of India & Ors (2024) 2 SCR 420 : 2024 INSC 113, a Constitution Bench of this Court struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme and provisions in cognate legislation including those Representation of the People Act 1951, the Companies Act 2017 and the Income Tax Act, 1961 as being ultra vires and unconstitutional. The conclusions of this Court we....
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.... each Electoral Bond encashed by political parties which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of the Electoral Bond; d. SBI shall submit the above information to the ECI within three weeks from the date of this judgment, that is, by 6 March 2024; e. The ECI shall publish the information shared by the SBI on its official website within one week of the receipt of the information, that is, by 13 March 2024; and f. Electoral Bonds which are within the validity period of fifteen days but that which have not been encashed by the political party yet shall be returned by the political party or the purchaser depending on who is in possession of the bond to the issuing bank. The issuing bank, upon the r....
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....tion (Civil) No 421 of 2024 (a) A direction to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Chairperson, State Bank of India to collect information from banks for disclosing the entities which had taken loans to purchase electoral bonds and to make these details public on the website of the Election Commission of India. (iii) Writ Petition (Criminal) No 293 of 2024 (a) A court monitored investigation by an SIT or by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the misuse of the Electoral Bond Scheme under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (prayer (a)); and (b) An investigation into the complaint lodged by the petitioner on 18 April 2024 and the instances of corruption disclosed by the electoral bond dat....
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....involved in the underlying arrangements and hence an independent investigation outside the purview of the normal process of law should be ordered by this Court. Hence, it has been urged that the appropriate course of action would be for this Court to constitute an SIT for a court monitored investigation. 10. While evaluating whether these petitions invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution should be entertained, it is necessary to preface this consideration with the observation that on the date of the purchase of the electoral bonds, there was a statutory enactment of Parliament permitting the purchase of electoral bonds and envisaging donations to political parties through the instrument of electoral b....
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....bond and the award of a contract or change in policy, as the case may be, or commission or omission, as the case may be, by the authorities. 15. Individual grievances of this nature in regard to the presence or absence of quid pro quo would have to be pursued on the basis of the remedies available under the law. Likewise, where there is a refusal to investigate or a closure report has been filed, recourse can be taken to appropriate remedies under the law governing criminal procedure or, as the case may be, Article 226 of the Constitution. 16. At the present stage, absent a recourse to the remedies which are available under the law to pursue such grievances, it would both be premature and inappropriate for this Court; premature becaus....