Supreme Court Disallows Urgent Hearing on Plea Against Rs 2,000 Note Exchange

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday stated its refusal to grant an urgent hearing on a plea which sought to challenge the recent notification permitting the exchange of  Rs`2,000 currency notes without any identity proof and requisition slip, issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and State Bank of India (SBI).

BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay had filed the petition aimed at slamming the May 29 verdict by the Delhi High Court. In its ruling, the HC had pointed out that the decision of the government was purely a policy decision and courts ought not to be acting in the role of an appellate authority over the government decision.

The plea was up for hearing before the vacation bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and KV Vishwanathan.

Upadhyay told the Delhi High Court bench that the notifications were manifestly arbitrary, while urging the bench to list the plea.

“There is a notification about the RBI and SBI that Rs 2,000 notes can be exchanged without identity proof. This is manifest arbitrariness. All the black money by kidnappers, drug mafia and mining mafia is being exchanged. No requisition slip is required and media reports show that Rs 50,000 crore has been exchanged,” pleaded Upadhyay.

However, the bench refused to accede to his request, saying that the bench was loath to take up such matters during vacations. He was, however, granted the liberty by the court to mention the matter before the Chief Justice of India when the court is scheduled to open after summer vacations in July.

Earlier, a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma of the Delhi HC had noted in the 13-page order that the decision to stop the circulation of the banknotes was not to be considered as a decision towards demonetization, pointing out that the currency continued to be a legal tender. He clarified that it was only a decision for withdrawal of the notes.

In addition to this, the court had said that it was not possible to arrive at the conclusion that the government’s decision was perverse, arbitrary or that it encouraged black money, money laundering, profiteering or that corruption is being abetted by the decision to withdraw the Rs 2,000 notes from circulation.

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