ANI
25 Nov 2022, 00:07 GMT+10
New Delhi [India], November 24 (ANI): Senior Advocate P Chidambaram on Thursday said that demonetisation was one of the major decisions that were taken in the last ten-twenty years, which affected everybody as it raises questions on the government for demonetizing Rs 500 and Rs 100 currency notes in 2016.
Senior Advocate P Chidambaram, who was appearing for one of the petitioners, concluded his arguments before a five-judge Constitution bench dealing with demonetisation issues. The court will continue the hearing next week as another advocate from the petitioner side will make his submissions against the government's decision to demonetize currency notes of 500 and 1000 in 2016.
Chidambaram, who argued for nearly five hours, has taken the court from the demonetisation history. He called demonetization an extreme step, which affects everybody in the country.
He said that if there is one major economic decision taken in the last ten-twenty years, it is demonetisation and this demonetisation failed. He urged the court to declare that power of demonetisation is not available under 26(2) and if it is, then 26(2) itself would be unconstitutional.
Section 26(2) in The Reserve Bank of India Act, deals with the recommendation of the Central Board that the 2[Central Government] may, by notification in the Gazette of India, declare that, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, any series of bank notes of any denomination shall cease to be legal tender 3[save at such office or agency of the Bank and to such extent as may be specified in the notification].
The senior advocate also submitted that the Central government cannot on its own initiate any proposal relating to currency notes.
He also pointed out that at the time of demonetisation the currency in circulation was Rs 17.9 lakh crore and today, according to RBI, it is 32.18 lakh crore and actually the currency in circulation has increased.
Opposing the government decision, the senior lawyer said that power on currency-related issues is not given to the executive government as they can starve people of cash, and cripple their daily activities by not putting enough cash in circulation. Mentioning that only a small percentage of total note was demonetised in 1946 and in 1978 therefore it did not create any hue and cry and did not affect the people.
The court asked are you suggesting that if a separate law had been made in this case, it would have been valid.
Chidambaram said that if the law had been made in parliament, this may have been valid because parliament would have debated this thoroughly and taken into account of consequences of withdrawing 86.4 per cent of total currency.
A five-judge bench of Justices Abdul Nazeer, BR Gavai, AS Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian and BV Nagarathna was hearing petitions relating to challenging the Centre's decision to demonetize currency notes of Rs. 500 and 1,000 in 2016. (ANI)Get a daily dose of Israel Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Israel Herald.
More InformationMOSCOW, Russia: This week, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan since...
CAIRO, Egypt: This week, both Hamas and Israel shared their views ahead of expected peace talks about a new U.S.-backed ceasefire plan....
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has made public a visa decision that would usually be kept private. It did this to send...
MADRID, Spain: Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota and his younger brother, André Silva, have died in a car accident in Spain. Spanish...
LONDON, U.K.: An unrelenting heatwave sweeping across Europe has pushed early summer temperatures to historic highs, triggering deadly...
President Donald Trump's plans to build a space-based Golden Dome missile defense shield have drawn immediate criticism from China,...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: With just weeks to spare before a potential government default, U.S. lawmakers passed a sweeping tax and spending...
PARIS, France: Fast-fashion giant Shein has been fined 40 million euros by France's antitrust authority over deceptive discount practices...
PALO ALTO/TEL AVIV: The battle for top AI talent has claimed another high-profile casualty—this time at Safe Superintelligence (SSI),...
FRANKLIN, Tennessee: Hundreds of thousands of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are being recalled across the United States due to a potential...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation...
LONDON UK - U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day. Global Forex Markets Wrap Up Friday with Greeback Comeback...