The Supreme Court on Monday upheld by a 4:1 majority a decision taken by the Union government six years back in 2016 to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations.
The majority of a constitution bench comprising Justice S Abdul Nazeer, Justice B R Gavai, Justice A S Bopanna, Justice V Ramasubramanian, held that the Centre’s notification dated November 8, 2016, was valid and satisfied the test of proportionality.
Justice BV Nagarathna in her dissenting view held though demonetisation was well-intentioned and well thought of, it has to be declared unlawful on legal grounds.
The SC has heard a batch of 58 petitions challenging the demonetisation exercise announced by the union government on November 8, 2016.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack on the Congress and its former president Rahul Gandhi.
BJP senior leader and Ex-Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked if the Wayanad MP (Congress leader Rahul Gandhi) would apologise to the nation now for his ‘campaign against the demonetisation scheme’.
Hitting back, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said the BJP government at the Centre cannot absolve itself of blame for the distress the people of the country suffered due to the decision to scrap high-value currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs.1000 then in circulation.
