The Supreme Court in a 4:1 majority verdict on Monday upheld the government’s 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination notes and said the decision-making process was not flawed. While Congress expressed disappointment on the order, BJP hailed it terming it a historic judgement.
The BJP slammed the Congress for its campaign against the decision and asked if its leader Rahul Gandhi will tender an apology after the verdict. Former law minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted that the demonetisation done in 2016 proved to to be the “biggest blow” to terrorism by curbing terror funding. It boosted income tax and cleansed the economy, he claimed.
“It is a historic decision and is in national interest. The Supreme Court has held a decision taken in national interest valid. Will Rahul Gandhi now say sorry for his campaign against demonetisation. He spoke against it even abroad,” he said at a press conference.
Congress leader and one of the petitioners P Chidambaram expressed his disappointment over the judgement saying, “once the Hon’ble Supreme Court has declared the law, we are obliged to accept it.”
“However, it is necessary to point out that the majority has not upheld the wisdom of the decision; nor has the majority concluded that the stated objectives were achieved. In fact, the majority has steered clear of the question whether the objectives were achieved at all,” he tweeted.
Here’s a timeline of events in the case:
November 8, 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses nation and announces demonetisation of high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.
November 9, 2016: Plea filed in Supreme Court challenging decision.
December 16, 2016: Bench headed by then chief justice T S Thakur refers question of validity of the decision and other questions to a larger bench of five judges for authoritative pronouncement.
August 11, 2017: Unusual deposits of Rs 1.7 lakh crore during demonetisation, says RBI paper. In nominal terms, excess deposits accrued to the banking system due to demonetisation estimated in the range of Rs 2.8-4. 3 lakh crore, it says.
July 23, 2017: Massive searches, seizures and surveys by Income Tax department over the last three years lead to the detection of around Rs 71,941 crore worth “undisclosed income”, Centre tells SC.
August 25, 2017: RBI issues new Rs 50 and Rs 200 denomination banknotes.
September 28, 2022: SC constitutes constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer, says it will consider if pleas challenging demonetisation are an academic exercise.
December 7, 2022: SC reserves verdict on pleas challenging demonetisation and directs Centre and RBI to put on record relevant records for its perusal.
January 2, 2023: SC in a 4:1 majority verdict upholds decision to demonetise the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination notes.
Says decision making process was not flawed, has to be great restraint in matters of economic policy and court cannot supplant wisdom of the executive by a judicial review of its decision.
January 2, 2023: Justice B V Nagarathna renders dissenting view, says scrapping of the whole series of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes had to be done through a legislation and not through a gazette notification.
(With PTI input)