The State Bank of India (SBI) has declined to share information regarding the number and value of electoral bonds, denomination-wise, held in its inventory after the completion of 13 phases of the sale procedure, even as information collated under the RTI Act through another public authority shows that 11 bonds of Rs one crore value each and one bond worth Rs 1,000 were cancelled and removed from the bank's inventory as of March 8, 2019.
In response to an RTI application filed by activist Lokesh Batra, the SBI, in its reply dated May 4, 2020, declined to give information quoting Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, saying the authorised branches are selling the bonds to the individuals or corporates or firms etc directly and therefore the information sought is not centrally available with the bank and hence could not be provided. It said that such collection and collation of information may disproportionately divert the resources of the bank and hence denied under Section 7(9) of the RTI Act.
Batra has filed an RTI appeal under Section 19 of the RTI Act on May 15 with the relevant authority at the SBI, as a follow up to his RTI application dated April eight, 2020, for denial of information regarding the EBs, denomination-wise, held in the inventory of this public authority after the completion of sale procedure of 13 phases, and the total value of the bonds in rupees.
“It can be for any reason that bonds are cancelled. They can get torn or soiled and if for any reason they can't be used any more, they are cancelled and removed from the inventory. In the normal course, the difference between the printed and sold would be the inventory,” said Batra.
He said the bank cannot deny the information requested as it concerns the expenditure of the tax payers' money in crores and is of huge public interest. He said the information sought is in no way exempted under the RTI Act.
The activist said the SBI cannot claim that it is unaware of electoral bonds that were cancelled and removed from inventories due to certain circumstances.
“Moreover, information received under the RTI Act reveals that as on March eight, 2019, one electoral bond of Rs 1000 and 11 EBs of value of Rs one crore each were cancelled and removed from the inventory of SBI,” Batra said, quoting figures gleaned from documents provided by the Department of Economic Affairs.
