NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a batch of pleas seeking a court-monitored SIT probe under the supervision of a retired SC judge into the scrapped electoral bonds scheme.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said it cannot order a roving inquiry into the purchase of electoral bonds on the assumption that there was a quid pro quo from award of contracts, when ordinary criminal law remedies had not been invoked.
“The court entertained petitions challenging electoral bonds since there was an aspect of judicial review. But the cases involving criminal wrongdoing should not be under Article 32 when there are remedies available under the law,” the bench said. Article 32 allows citizens to approach the Supreme Court direct for enforcement of their fundamental rights under the Constitutional scheme.
The court said it was open for the petitioners to take appropriate remedial measures under the normal course of law. “If their grievances are not investigated or closure report is filed, then they can approach the high courts or the Supreme Court,” the bench said.
The bench also rejected pleas to direct the authorities to recover the donations received by political parties through electoral bonds and to re-open their income tax assessments. The bench said such remedies are available under the IT Act. “For the court to issue any such directions at this stage would amount to a conclusive opinion on disputed facts,” it reasoned.
The bench was hearing four petitions, one filed jointly by NGOs Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), and three others by Dr Khem Singh Bhatti, Sudip Narayan Tamankar and Jai Prakash Sharma.