Declining to hear individual cases demanding acceptance of demonetised currency notes in denominations of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, the Supreme Court on Tuesday instructed petitioners to make a recommendation to the government.
“After the Constitution Bench’s decision, we do not believe it will be acceptable for us to use our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution in individual cases to accept demonetised currency notes,” the bench reiterated.
The Supreme Court bench of BR Gavai and Vikram Nath instructed the Centre to deliberate on its representation and entertain individual petitions on the exchange of demonetised notes within 12 weeks.
It went on to say that if the petitioners were dissatisfied with the Union’s conduct, they might go to the appropriate high court.
On November 8, 2016, the Central Government announced the demonetization of all 500 and 1,000 banknotes. The Supreme Court supported the Centre’s decision by a majority vote of a five-judge bench, emphasising that the government’s decision-making process could not have been defective because they were in contact with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
