Summary
In this interlocutory order of 26 March 2021, the Supreme Court refused to stay the Electoral Bond Scheme or restrain the proposed April 2021 sale window. It relied on the scheme’s operation since 2018, its banking and disclosure safeguards, and the Court’s existing interim arrangement. The applications were dismissed at that stage; the constitutional challenge in the writ petition was not finally decided.
Issues
- Whether the pending constitutional challenge justified an interim stay of the scheme or restraint on further sales in April 2021.
Held
- An existing interim arrangement could not ordinarily be revisited through applications for the same relief whenever a periodic sale window opened. Nevertheless, the Court heard these applications because the issues were serious. (¶¶ 3-4, 10-11)
- For the interim applications, the Court considered purchaser identification through banking and KYC requirements, encashment through designated party accounts, the short validity period, and the earlier sealed-cover disclosure direction. It treated these as safeguards against the concerns advanced for an immediate stay. (¶¶ 17-20, 22-25)
- The Court read RBI’s correspondence as seeking safeguards and electronic rather than physical issuance, rather than opposing the scheme in principle. It also rejected the resale and foreign-purchaser apprehensions advanced in these applications by reference to the scheme’s stated restrictions. These observations formed part of the interlocutory assessment. (¶¶ 13-18, 26-27)
- Having regard to periodic operation since 2018 and the safeguards already ordered on 12 April 2019, the Court found no justification for a stay at that stage. This order disposed of the stay applications without deciding the substantive constitutional challenge. (¶¶ 1-7, 28)
Result
Both stay applications dismissed on 26 March 2021. Main constitutional challenge not finally disposed of by this order.