New Delhi: The Supreme Court bench led by the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, on Tuesday posted the petitions challenging the electoral bonds scheme of the government, for hearing on April 11 wherein it will be decided if the matter needs to be referred to the constitution bench or not.
The bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha first posted the matter for hearing in May, but after the petitioner's side said that its a constitutional matter and can impact the democratic polity of the country, the court decided to first examine it as it needs to be referred to a constitution bench.
Also read: SC to hear pleas challenging electoral bonds in March
"This case should be heard by a constitution bench since this deserves an authoritative pronouncement by the court," said advocate Shadan Farasat appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms, one of the petitioners. "Then we will hear it on April 11 to see if it should be referred to the constitution bench," said the court.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave appearing for one of the petitioners also pressed on the urgency for hearing of the case since many elections have already been held. "Are we going to wait for the Karnataka elections now so that another tranche of electoral bonds are issued?" argued Dave. Plea challenging electoral bonds were filed way back in 2017 contending that it's a way for the political parties to get funding without any transparency.
After that, it has been listed for hearing a few times and the Central government has filed an affidavit opposing the allegations against the scheme, but no detailed hearing has taken place. Now the matter is likely to be heard in May after the court decides about the reference to the constitution bench aspect in April.
