Justice Nagarathna(pic)
The 5-member Constitution bench upheld the notes ban decision with a 4:1 majority.
Edited by Akhil Kumar
Updated: January 02, 2023 11:46 am IST
New Delhi:
The government notification on demonetisation was “unlawful” and the notes ban process could not have been initiated by the Centre, justice BV Nagarathna said today in her strong dissent after a Supreme Court Constitution bench, with 4:1 majority, upheld the notes ban decision by the Narendra Modi-led Centre. She called the November 8, 2016 notification of the Centre “unlawful” and agreed with the petitioners challenging the notification that as per section 26 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, the central board of the RBI should have independently recommended demonetisation, and it should not have been done through the advice of the government.
“In my considered view, action of demonetisation by November 8 notification was unlawful. But status quo ante cannot be restored now since it was in 2016,” she said, adding that demonetisation was “an exercise of power, contrary to law, and therefore unlawful”.
The manner in which it was implemented was not in accordance with law, she added.
The crux of the argument by petitioners was “as per RBI Act, recommendation for demonetisation should originate from the board of the Reserve Bank of India” but in this case, Centre wrote a letter to RBI on November 7 advising for such a recommendation, she said.
Justice Nagarathna also held that, like previous instances, Demonetisation could have been initiated through an Act of Parliament and not by an executive notification.
“After perusing the documents and records submitted by Centre and RBI, phrases like “as desired by Centre Govt” shows there was no independent application of mind by RBI,” Justice Nagarathna said.
Source:NDTV-News