New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday intervened and issued a notice in connection with the decision-making process behind the move of demonetization which was carried out by the government in 2016.
The apex court has further asked the central government and the Reserve Bank of India to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
A five-judge bench headed by Justice SA Nazeer will hear the case on November 9. According to reports, the bench observed that the court is aware of the boundary on judicial review of governmental policies but it will examine if the move was merely an ‘academic’ exercise.
The bench consisted of Justices V.Ramasubramanian, BV Nagarathna, AS Bopanna, and BR Gavai. The Supreme Court was hearing a number of petitions in connection with the demonetization of ₹1000 and ₹500 notes by the central government.
The court direction came after Senior Advocate P Chidambaram stressed that the Court must examine the powers under Sections 24 and 26 of the RBI Act, 1934 as tomorrow if this goes unchallenged they can invoke these powers again.
Senior Advocate P Chidambaram apprised the court that demonetization in 1978 was by a separate law. He also said whether the demonetization of this kind requires a separate law, that is not academic as this is a live issue.
Advocate Chidambaram said that in 2016, 86.4 per cent of the legal tender was made illegal.
Senior Advocate P Chidambaram also apprised the court that Section 26 of the RBI Act only relates to the demonetization of any particular series of banknotes of any denomination, not all series of banknotes.
(With Agency Inputs)