The Supreme Court on Friday framed nine questions for adjudication to decide whether demonetisation was an unconstitutional decision. It asked the Centre whether the decision to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was taken in absolute secrecy. “When you made the policy on demonetisation, was it confidential?” the Supreme Court asked, further questioning why the withdrawal limit of Rs 24,000 per week per person was not being compiled with.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi argued for the government, saying the Narendra Modi administration had taken all the necessary steps to ease the public’s inconveniences. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for a petitioner, said, “There was no cash in ATMs, recalibration was not done well, and cooperative banks were being discriminated against.”
Rohatgi further said that all problems caused by the currency ban will end in 10 to 15 days. He asserted on the Centre’s behalf that the restrictions placed on cooperative banks and the imposed withdrawal limits were “reasonable”, The Indian Express reported.
The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions and public interest litigations that challenged the Centre’s demonetisation move. In its affidavit submitted last week, the government had told the top court that demonetisation was a step to unearth black money and reduce the ratio of cash transactions. The apex court has scheduled the next hearing in the matter for December 14, ANI reported.
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