New Delhi: The Court's shoulders are broad enough to tackle social media commentary, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said on Monday after the Centre and State Bank of India (SBI) flagged the barrage of criticism on social media over the Supreme Court's verdict in the electoral bonds case.
CJI Chandrachud said judges decide according to the Constitution though they are also subject-matter of comment on social media and press, but as an “institution our shoulders are broad enough”.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by the CJI asked SBI to disclose all details related to electoral bonds. During the hearing, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said, "Lordships sit in silos and your lordships are in kind of ivory tower not in negative sense of the term but what we know here your lordships never come to know, and the way in which your lordship judgement is playing out and something your lordships must be informed as highest court of the country. Our case was, we want to curb the black money. A criminal may have made a donation, but ultimately the donation comes in white economy, and we could not persuade your lordships," he said.
Mehta, citing the apex court judgement, said the case was “witch hunting will be by political parties….now witch hunting has started at some other level not at governmental level”. He added that the application of SBI comes before the court on March 11 and most serious things start happening thereafter and those before the court started giving press interviews deliberately embarrassing the court and there is non-level playing field and on their (government and SBI) side nobody can rebut that.
“A barrage of social media posts intended to cause embarrassment started during these two days, now it is open field. Statistics can be twisted in any manner the person wants…based on twisted statistics any kind of posts are being made. I know lordships cannot control that….," said Mehta.
The CJI said" “Mr Solicitor, we are only concerned about directions which we issued…as judges, we decide according to the Constitution. We are governed by the rule of law. We are also subject-matter of comment on social media and press but surely as an institution our shoulders are broad enough. Our court has an institutional role to play…that is the only job”.
Mehta said: "My job is to inform the court that something else is playing out which the lordships never intended nor the scheme intended. We thought this information will help the voter to take a call whether to vote in favour of a particular party and not."
He continued to refer to a "media campaign" on the electoral bonds issue. The CJI said, "Very recently, I was asked about a critique on a judgement, not mentioning which judgement. I said that it is not part of the role of a judge, the least constitutional court, or even a civil judge to defend their views. Once we declare a judgement, it becomes public property. It is the property of the nation," said the CJI.
Meanwhile, industry bodies FICCI and ASSOCHAM urged the bench to defer its decision to direct the SBI to make the disclosure on bond numbers. Senior advocate Mukil Rohatgi, representing them, argued against the disclosure, adding it cannot be done as the scheme guaranteed anonymity. The bench refused to entertain his contention saying that no formal application was present on behalf of the bodies. The bench said they should have approached the court when the matter was being argued and added that an application after delivery of final judgement cannot be entertained.
“Mr Rohatgi there is only one answer. With effect from 12 April 2019, we directed the collection of details. Everyone was put on notice at the time. This is why we did not ask for the disclosure of the bonds sold prior to this interim order. This was a conscious choice…..,” said the bench.
The apex court also refused to entertain a plea by NGO Citizens Rights Trust’s seeking a direction to the SBI and the ECI to disclose the details, including alphanumeric number, of electoral bonds sold between 1 March 2018 and 11 April, 2019. The CJI said it was a conscious decision that the cut-off date for declaring all information related to electoral bonds be 12 April, 2019.
“We took that date because it was our considered view that once the interim order was pronounced, everybody was put on notice. If we have to go back to an earlier date, it will become a substantive modification of the judgement and will require a review of this judgement. This cannot be done in a miscellaneous application,” said the bench.
Read More
'Do Not Be Selective': SC Directs SBI to Disclose All Details of Electoral Bonds by Mar 21
