The gist of the Judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is as follows:
(i) the Scheme is unconstitutional and is accordingly struck down;
(ii) proviso to Section 29C(1) of the Representation of the People
Act, Section 182(3) of the Companies Act, 2013, and Section
13A(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, as amended by the
Finance Act, 2017, are unconstitutional, and are struck down;
(iii) deletion of proviso to Section 182(1) to the Companies Act of
2013, thereby permitting unlimited contributions to political
parties is unconstitutional, and is struck down;
(iv) sub-section (3) to Section 31 of the RBI Act, 1934 and the
Explanation thereto introduced by the Finance Act, 2017 are
unconstitutional, and are struck down;
(v) the ECI will ascertain the details from the political parties and
the State Bank of India, which has issued the Bonds, and the
bankers of the political parties and thereupon disclose the
details and names of the donor/purchaser of the Bonds and the
amounts donated to the political party. The said exercise would
be completed as per the timelines fixed by the Hon’ble the
Chief Justice;
(vi) Henceforth, as the Scheme has been declared
unconstitutional, the issuance of fresh Bonds is prohibited;
(vii) In case the Bonds issued (within the validity period) are with
the donor/purchaser, the donor/purchaser may return them to
the authorised bank for refund of the amount. In case the
Bonds (within the validity period) are with the donee/political
party, the donee/political party will return the Bonds to the
issuing bank, which will then refund the amount to the
donor/purchaser. On failure, the amount will be credited to the
Prime Ministers Relief Fund.