Supreme Court to pronounce verdict on 58 petitions filed against demonetisation on Monday

The Supreme Court will on Monday pronounce its verdict on petitions challenging the government's decision to invalidate Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in 2016. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer is likely to pronounce its verdict on the matter on January 2. According to Monday's cause list of the apex court, there will be two separate judgments in the matter, which will be pronounced by Justice BR Gavai and Justice BV Nagaratna.

The top court had on December 7 directed the Center and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reserve its decision on record relating to the government's 2016 decision. It heard the arguments of Attorney General R Venkataramani, counsel for RBI and senior advocates P Chidambaram and Shyam Divan, counsel for the petitioners. Describing the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes as seriously flawed, Chidambaram had argued that the government cannot on its own initiate any resolution relating to legal tender, which is only subject to the approval of the Central Board of the RBI. Can be done on recommendation.

Opposing the apex court's attempt to revisit the 2016 demonetisation exercise, the government had said that the court cannot decide such a matter. In an affidavit, the Center recently told the apex court that the demonetisation exercise was a one-shot decision and part of a larger strategy to tackle the menace of fake money, terrorism financing, black money and tax evasion. On November 8, 2016, the Supreme Court had heard 58 petitions challenging the note ban announced by the Center.