CIC orders ISP to provide the total cost of printing electoral bonds

21 Jun 2022 , 09:37 AM

The Central Information Commission has ordered the India Security Press (ISP) to supply an RTI applicant with the complete cost of “printing” and “related costs” of election bonds. The ISP’s claim that disclosing the information would “adversely damage the country’s economic interests” warranted protection under section 8(1)(a) of the Right To Information (RTI) Act was rejected by Information Commissioner Vanaja N Sarna.

The clause empowers a public authority to withhold material if its revelation will jeopardize India’s sovereignty and integrity; the state’s security, strategic, scientific, or economic interests; or its relationship with a foreign country. Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), an RTI activist, had filed an RTI with the India Security Press, requesting information on the entire cost of printing the electoral bonds that the government had established to enhance openness in political funding.

According to a government response to the Lok Sabha in March this year, nearly 9,208 crore electoral bonds worth Rs 9,187 crore have been sold for various elections since 2018. The ISP had refused to provide the information, claiming Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, which Batra had challenged in front of the commission, which is the highest adjudicating authority in RTI cases.

Similar information was provided earlier in connection with other RTI applications of the same appellant by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, which included the number of electoral bonds and the cost of printing with associated costs for a specific period, according to Information Commissioner Varna. 

“As a result, the CPIO (Central Public Information Officer) of SPMCIL (Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltdrefusal )’s is unacceptable, as similar information has previously been supplied by the Ministry without citing any exception under the RTI Act. As a result, the CPIO is instructed to produce the requested information “she said.

Under the electoral bonds system, the purchaser is only permitted to acquire bonds of a certain value after complying with all Reserve Bank of India (RBI) KYC (know your customer) standards and making payment through a bank account at one of the State Bank of India’s designated branches (SBI). Electoral bonds have a 15-day life span and can only be used to make donations to registered political parties.

The program is available for purchase for ten days in each of the months of January, April, July, and October, or as the federal government may specify. A qualifying political party can only cash the bonds through a specified bank account with the permitted bank.

Association of Democratic Reforms, Common Cause, and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury have challenged the program in the Supreme Court.