9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (8) TMI 841X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or this Court; premature because the intervention of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution must be preceded by the invocation of normal remedies under the law and contingent upon the failure of those remedies; and inappropriate because the intervention of this Court, at the present stage, would postulate that the normal remedies which are available under the law would not be efficacious. This Court entertained a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of statutory provisions embodying the Electoral Bond Scheme and the consequential amendments which were made to diverse statutes. The only remedy for challenging such legislative changes lies in the invocation of the power of judicial review. Allegations involving ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ratic Reforms Anr Vs. Union of India Ors (2024) 2 SCR 420 : 2024 INSC 113 , a Constitution Bench of this Court struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme and provisions in cognate legislation including those Representation of the People Act 1951, the Companies Act 2017 and the Income Tax Act, 1961 as being ultra vires and unconstitutional. The conclusions of this Court were in the following terms: 216. In view of the discussion above, the following are our conclusions: a. The Electoral Bond Scheme, the proviso to Section 29C(1) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 (as amended by Section 137 of Finance Act 2017), Section 182(3) of the Companies Act (as amended by Section 154 of the Finance Act 2017), and Section 13A(b) (as amended by Sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s which are within the validity period of fifteen days but that which have not been encashed by the political party yet shall be returned by the political party or the purchaser depending on who is in possession of the bond to the issuing bank. The issuing bank, upon the return of the valid bond, shall refund the amount to the purchaser s account. 4. Thereafter, orders were passed by this Court on 11 March 2024 and 18 March 2024 to give effect to the directions for disclosure. 5. The four petitions, invoking the jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution, have been instituted by (i) Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation; (ii) Jai Prakash Sharma, a petitiner-in-person; (iii) Sudip Narayan Tamankar; and (iv) Khem Singh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1988 (prayer (a)); and (b) An investigation into the complaint lodged by the petitioner on 18 April 2024 and the instances of corruption disclosed by the electoral bond data of the Election Commission of India (prayer (b)). (iv) Writ Petition (Civil) No 450 of 2024 (a) A direction to the Union of India to confiscate the amount received by the political parties under the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 (Prayer (a)); (b) Constitution of a Committee headed by a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India to investigate into the illegal benefits conferred on donors by the public authorities by way of quid pro quo (Prayer (b)); (c) Directing income tax authorities to reopen the assessment of political parties from financial year 2018-2019 to financia ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ermitting the purchase of electoral bonds and envisaging donations to political parties through the instrument of electoral bonds. The purchase of electoral bonds and the donations which were made to political parties were on the basis of a law enacted by Parliament. The provisions of the statute have since been held to be unconstitutional. 11. The issue to be decided is whether the underlying reasons for the donations to political parties should be subjected to a court monitored investigation under an SIT. 12. The petitions are founded on two assumptions : (i) An assumption that there would prima facie be an element of quid pro quo where the date of the purchase of the electoral bonds and the donation to a political party is in proximity t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... grievances, it would both be premature and inappropriate for this Court; premature because the intervention of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution must be preceded by the invocation of normal remedies under the law and contingent upon the failure of those remedies; and inappropriate because the intervention of this Court, at the present stage, would postulate that the normal remedies which are available under the law would not be efficacious. 17. This Court entertained a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of statutory provisions embodying the Electoral Bond Scheme and the consequential amendments which were made to diverse statutes. The only remedy for challenging such legislative changes lies in the invo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
