The Supreme Court on Friday said a public interest litigation seeking a court-monitored investigation into the electoral bonds scheme will be heard on July 22.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan and said the PIL of two NGOs — Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) — is listed for hearing on Monday.
The bench said a similar plea, which was listed for Friday, will also be taken up together with the previous PIL on July 22.
The previous PIL of the two NGOs alleges an “apparent quid pro quo” between political parties, corporations, and investigative agencies.
Terming the electoral bonds scheme as a “scam”, the plea sought a direction to the authorities to investigate the source of funding of “shell companies and loss-making companies” which made donations to various political parties, as has been disclosed by the data released by the Election Commission (EC).
The petition has also sought a direction to the authorities to recover the money donated by companies as part of “quid pro quo arrangements where these are found to be proceeds of crime”.
A five-judge Constitution bench had on February 15 scrapped the electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding introduced by the BJP government.