New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Friday opted for a “hands off” stand on demonetisation, saying the government is the best judge, responsive and sensitive enough to deal with the situation.
Instead of issuing any directives, it hoped the government will consider and take appropriate decisions from time to time to ease the hardships being faced by the people.
Asking the government to honour its commitment to allow the withdrawal of Rs 24,000 per week to the extent possible and review that decision periodically and take necessary corrective measures, the court refused to extend dates for use of the scrapped Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes for essential services that ended on Thursday.
It dashed a glimmer of hope that arose in the morning from the outgoing Chief Justice of India T S Thakur’s remark that “we will see whether we can pass some orders today” when senior advocate Kapil Sibal sought an interim order to allow use of the demonetised Rs 500 notes for some more time. It left it up to the government to take the call.
The interim order, which was reserved on Thursday by the three-judge bench of the CJI and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, also dashed prospects of the aggrieved persons going to any high courts.
Staying all proceedings against demonetisation in various high courts, it directed them not to entertain any fresh petitions. It also referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench a batch of petitions it was hearing that challenge the government’s November 8 decision to demonetise old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The government had sought transfer of all cases pending before various courts to a single court.
No date was fixed for further hearing as it will be now for new Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar to set up the Constitution Bench after assuming office on January 3. Chief Justice Thakur said the general public importance and implications of answers to the questions warranted the matters be placed before a five-judge bench for an authoritative pronouncement.
The bench also rejected the prayer of District Cooperative Banks (DCBs) to allow them to accept deposits in the scrapped currency, saying relief offered by the Attorney General on Thursday was enough that they can deposit Rs 8,000 crore of the old notes they had collected between November 11 and 14. It said the government rightly decided to demand KYC norms from the cooperative banks before accepting deposits of the scrapped notes from them.
The court also framed a set of nine questions on which further hearing will be conducted by the Constitution Bench only in the new year after the winter vacation that began on Friday. The court that now reopens on January 2 will hold a consolidated hearing on a range of issues, from the constitutionality of the demonetisation order to the inconvenience caused to the people and whether restrictions could be imposed on withdrawal of money by the account holders and the judiciary’s power to review fiscal policies.
On Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s contention on Thursday that things would get streamlined in the next 15 days – that is up to December 30 deadline to return all old notes to banks – the court said that these (15 days) have not yet been exhausted and they (government) are working to the best of their abilities.
Asking the government to periodically review its decisions, the court noted that 40% of the demonetised currency has already been replaced by the new currency of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denomination notes. It took on record the Attorney General’s statement that Rs 5 lakh crore was already in circulation and coupled with currency notes of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100, there were Rs 7.5 lakh crore in the circulation.
Post a Comment