In Big Win for Centre, Supreme Court Upholds Demonetisation With 4:1 Judgment

In big win for the central government, the Supreme Court upheld the 2016 demonetisation move on Monday. The top court gave its verdict on a bunch of pleas challenging Centre?s 2016 note ban move.

A five-judge constitution bench was hearing the matter. While four judges backed the demonetisation move, one judge ? Justice BV Nagarathna ? dissented, making it a 4:1 verdict.

Justice Nagarathna differed from the majority judgment on the point of the Centre?s powers under section 26(2) of the RBI Act.

Justice Nagarathna said the demonetisation policy was flawed only on legal grounds. She, however, added that the move was well thought of to battle counterfeiting black money and terror funding.

The Supreme Court said there was consultation between the Centre and the RBI before demonetisation. There was a reasonable nexus to bring such a measure, and we hold that demonetisation was not hit by doctrine of proportionality.

The court added that the RBI does not have any independent power to bring in demonetisation and the decision was taken after the consultation between the Centre and RBI.

The verdicts were given by the Constitution bench, headed by Justice S A Nazeer.  The other justices comprised justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian and BV Nagarathna.

Earlier, the court directed the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to put on record the relevant records relating to the government’s 2016 decision and reserved its verdict.

What BV Nagarathna Said In Her Statement

In her judgment, Justice Nagarathna said there was no time for the RBI to apply its mind since the notification was passed in 24 hours.

The justice added that the demonetisation targeted evils such as terror funding, counterfeiting etc., and such a measure targeting deprave practices was well thought of, adding that the ?measure is unlawful purely on legal grounds and not on basis of objects?.

She also mentioned that the parliament ?can?t be left aloof of such serious decisions? as it is a ?miniature of the country?.

Cong?s Attempt to Twist Issue, Misinform People Is Exposed: Law Minister Rijiju

After the Supreme Court upheld the 2016 demonetisation move, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said that Congress? ?malicious? efforts to undo the legitimate action of an elected government will not succeed and P Chidambaram fails again.

He further said Chidambaram knows he’s making a political argument when he states that the objectives were not met, as neither the majority judgment nor even the minority judgment has accepted the said contention.

?Slap On Government?s Wrist?: Chidambaram On Nagarathna?s Judgment

While accepting the Supreme Court?s decision on the demonetisation plea, P Chidambaram, who was the lawyer for petitioners, hailed dissenting judge BV Nagarathna?s verdict, saying: ?The dissenting judgement will rank among the famous dissents recorded in the history of the Hon?ble Supreme Court.?

Chidambaram, however, added: ?It is necessary to point out that 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.?

BJP?s Shehzad Poonawalla responded to Chidambaram and said in a tweet, ?With SC upholding demonetisation with a 4:1 majority ? SC has given its approval not only for objectives of DeMo (to fight corruption) but also on the authority & procedure. But despite DeMo getting both public & court mandate Corrupt Congress continues to cry foul?.

?If a move was in interest of the nation & against corruption ? Congress is bound to oppose it. Even the dissenting judge they are quoting has lauded the noble intentions of DeMo but Congress will continue to be the patron of corruption!,? the BJP leader added.