Supreme Court should not interfere in Centre’s decision, heated debate with SC judges in note ban case
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday (December 06) that the central government’s demonetisation decision in 2016 was not a “thoughtless” exercise. The Reserve Bank, while supporting the Centre’s decision, opposed 58 petitions in the court opposing the demonetisation decision and said it was an overnight decision. The Reserve Bank also said that the court should refrain from examining it as it is an economic policy decision.
Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the Reserve Bank before a five-judge constitution bench comprising Justice S Abdul Nazeer, Justice BR Gavai, Justice AS Bopanna, Justice V Ramasubramaniam and Justice BV Nagaratna, said that it is “nation building”. an integral part of the process” and on this all barring a few were unanimous.
Advocate Gupta said that the court was adopted by the government. Should refrain from interfering in economic policy and 2016 Demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in the validity of the decision of the court not to be inquired into needed. Referring to various judgments of the Apex Court. Gupta said that the courts should not be allowed to deal with policy matters until should not interfere, unless the policy is discriminatory and don’t be arbitrary.
To this, the bench said that the court would not go into the merits of the decision on demonetisation, rather it would examine the process followed in arriving at the decision. Justice Nagaratna said, “We are not talking about the validity of the decision but the process of decision making.” To this, Gupta said that elaborate arrangements were made for the smooth implementation of the demonetisation decision.
Gupta, however, admitted that due to demonetisation many citizens had to face many difficulties. He said, “Temporary difficulties are also an integral part of the nation-building process. Some difficulties cannot be anticipated but we had a mechanism in place to resolve the problems that arose.”
On the other hand, former Union Finance Minister and senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for the petitioners, countered the arguments of the Center and the RBI, saying that the court should not be intimidated by voluminous words like economic policy and monetary policy. He said that demonetisation is not a part of monetary policy. He urged the court to decide the validity of the decision-making process and quash it if found arbitrary so that such exercise in violation of law is not repeated in future.
Chidambaram said, “Even though the court cannot strike down demonetisation now, as the court has started hearing the matter after six years, but the court can pass judgment on the decision-making process.” The matter will be heard on Wednesday as well.
