Three industry bodies on Monday sought to intervene in the electoral bonds matter in the Supreme Court with a view to defer disclosing of unique alphanumeric numbers tagged to each electoral bonds. The chambers, including FICCI, Assocham and CII, believe that “such retrospective actions lead to reduction of business confidence for Indian and global investors”.

The oral intervention was made before a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. The bench refused to admit the oral mentioning by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi as there was no formal application or any material presented before the Court.

Contravenes EB scheme

“We have no such application on board,” said the CJI. Rohatgi pleaded that details of the bond cannot be divulged now as it would contravene the electoral bonds scheme which had introduced anonymous financial contributions to political parties.

Questioning Rohatgi why his clients did not appear earlier, the Bench stated the industry bodies were well aware of the ongoing proceedings in the electoral bonds case.

Despite Rohatgi’s insistence, Justice Gavai ruled out hearing of unlisted applications in the matter. Adding to that, the CJI told the senior advocate to approach the Supreme Court registry if he wanted the Bench to hear his application.

FICCI said the intervention application was filed in the Supreme Court by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi on behalf of three business chambers.

“Ease of doing business is a key element of India’s competitiveness globally. Retrospective actions lead to reduction of business confidence for Indian and global investors,” the FICCI said to give reason behind knocking the door of the SC.

Conducive environment

“FICCI believes in fostering a conducive environment for economic development, where the private sector will contribute to the growth of India to the 3rd largest economy,” the industry body observed.

R Dinesh, President of CII, said the CII has always maintained a consistent position on urging against retrospective action in the business environment, which vitiates the ease of doing business and erodes the confidence of investors. “Not only Indian investors, but also overseas investors, seek the comfort of consistency in the business environment for doing business so that they can plan their actions according to certainty and predictability. With this in mind, CII filed an application today morning,” Dinesh said.

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