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The Union government has told the Supreme Court that the 2016 demonetisation was a “well-considered” decision and part of a larger strategy to combat the menace of fake money, terror financing, black money and tax evasion, the Union government has told the Supreme Court.
Defending its decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations, the Centre told the top court the step was taken after extensive consultation with the Reserve Bank of India and advance preparations were made before the note ban was enforced.
The submissions were made in an affidavit filed in response to a batch of pleas challenging the Centre’s 2016 demonetisation decision.
“The withdrawal of the legal tender character of the specified bank notes was by itself an effective measure and was also a part of a larger strategy for combating the menace of fake money, terror financing, black money and tax evasion, but not confined to them alone,” it said.
“It was an economic policy decision exercised in accordance with powers conferred by an Act of the Parliament (RBI Act, 1934), in conformity with the provisions of the said Act and was subsequently affirmatively taken note of by the Parliament in the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017,” the Centre submitted.
The withdrawal of the legal tender character of the specified bank notes was one of the critical steps in the series of transformational economic policy steps, it said.
A five-judge constitution bench comprising Justices S A Nazeer, B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian, and B V Nagarathna is hearing the issue and is slated to take up the matter on November 24.
The opposition party had slammed the government on the 6th demonetisation anniversary . Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted
PM Modi,
Will you ever apologise for this epic disaster ?
Will you ever pay tribute to those 150 who lost their lives in bank queues or medical emergencies, and provide solace to their families ?
Would you ever understand the pain that #DeMo inflicted on our people ?
7/7
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) November 8, 2022
Modi Govt’s #Demonetisation was the biggest destroyer of livelihoods and small businesses !
Crores of jobs were lost.
The entire unorganised sector suffered.
People saving money for rainy days suffered.
DeMo killed aspirations & plunged India’s growth
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) November 8, 2022
