Electoral bonds: sbi refuses to disclose legal fees paid to harish salve in rti reply

“The information sought by you is third party personal information held by the Bank in fiduciary capacity, disclosure of which is exempted under Section 8(1) (e) & (j) and the same is

also of commercial confidence in nature, hence denied as it is exempted under section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act,” it said. The sections allow details to be provided if the competent authority

is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information.  When the Supreme Court deemed electoral bonds as unconstitutional and arbitrary, it came down

heavily on the State Bank of India’s attitude towards disclosing information. “The bank cannot be selective in disclosing all details. Do not wait for the orders of this court. SBI's

attitude seems to be ‘You tell us what to disclose, we will disclose’. That does not seem to be fair,” the court had observed. Read: _Electoral bonds case: SC asks SBI to disclose all

details by March 21_ Before it was struck down, electoral bonds were paper instruments that anyone could buy from the State Bank of India and give to a political party, which could redeem

them at SBI branches. The scheme enabled political parties to get away without making any significant disclosure to the Election Commission, using the argument that the bonds were anonymous.