Supreme Court asks Centre, RBI to produce records of demonetisation
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India to produce records relevant to the government’s 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, reported
Attorney General R Venkataramani said that the documents will be produced in a sealed cover.
A Constitution Bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer, BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian and BV Nagarathna that heard 58 petitions challenging the 2016 decision reserved its verdict. The bench allowed parties to submit written submissions by December 10.
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes would cease to be legal tender in India from midnight. Modi had said that the decision had been taken to “fight corruption, black money and terrorism”.
The Rs 2,000 notes and Rs 500 notes with a new design were introduced after demonetisation.
Several persons, many of them elderly, had died while standing in long queues to exchange their money. As millions of families were left stranded with no cash, many even killed themselves after failing to exchange old notes for valid currency.
The petitioners have claimed that the exercise violated several constitutional rights of citizens, such as the right to property (Article 300A), right to equality (Article 14), right to carry on any trade,...
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