RECENT SC JUDGEMENT ON DEMONITISATION

A five-judge Supreme Court Constitution panel handed down its ruling on Monday regarding a number of petitions that contested the legality of the Modi administration's decision to demonetize the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes in November 2016. The applications were rejected by the Supreme Court, which supported the government's judgement. The majority of petitions questioned the legality of the unexpected decision that resulted in currency notes worth 86% of the money in circulation becoming ‘worthless pieces of paper’. While some petitions asked for a new opportunity to swap notes that were discarded because they couldn't be exchanged by the deadline.

The bench of S. Abdul Nazeer J., BR Gavai J., A. S. Bopanna J., V.Ramasubramanian J., and B. V.Nagarathna J. rendered two distinct rulings.

The measure, which was initially intended to strengthen India's digital economy and address the problem of black money and terror financinghas been defended by the administration. Demonetization has drawn criticism from certain experts and members of the political oppositionwho claim that demonetisation has left many in great sufferings and negatively impacted the nation's economic growth.This criticism has been fuelled, in part, by the fact that a significant amount of the demonetised currency has returned to circulation, dashed hopes of eliminating sizable amounts of black money.

Despite the concerns that the original purpose of demonetisation was not fulfilled, the Supreme Court upheld the government's decision to remove the currency notes from circulation and ruled that the announcement cannot be overturned.

After six years, the economy and the society has recovered from the shocking sudden decisions of the Government. According to many analysts, the current court decision will merely be a ‘academic exercise’ at best. The Supreme Court had hinted that it might not overturn demonetization during the hearing in November-December because ‘the clock cannot be turned back’. The ApexCourt, however, said that the arguments might prompt it to establish rules for similar exercises in the future.

The Modi administration and the Reserve Bank of India were tasked by the Supreme Court on December 7 to record all the pertinent documents pertaining to the demonetisation decision.Congress leader and the petitioners' attorney, P. Chidambaram, stated that the government cannot propose any legislation pertaining to a legal tender because this can only be carried out by the Central Board upon RBI's advice. The Apex Court responded by stating that documentation demonstrates that the RBI was consulted and that the government collaborated with it for six months before to the announcement in November 2016.

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SANIKA MORDEKAR