RNS: Supreme Court has upheld the Centre’s 2016 decision to demonetise currency notes of 500 and 1000 rupee denominations.
A five-judge Constitution bench dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to demonetise 500 and 1000 rupee notes. The five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Justice S A Nazeer, said the decision, being the Executive’s economic policy, cannot be reversed.
Reading from the majority verdict, Justice BR Gavai stated that the Centre’s decision-making process could not be defective because the Reserve Bank of India and the Union government consulted.
The five judge panel, which included Justices S Abdul Nazeer, BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian, and BV Nagarathna, was hearing 58 petitions contesting the Centre’s decision. On the issue of the Centre’s authority under Section 26(2) of the RBI Act, Justice Nagarathna disagreed with the majority opinion.
In an affidavit, the Centre had told the top court that the demonetisation exercise was a well-considered decision and part of a larger strategy to combat the menace of fake money, terror financing, black money and tax evasion.
