A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court of India against the decision of the Central government to demonetize notes of denomination of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000.
The PIL, filed by Sangam Lal Pandey, seeks to quash the move, terming it “arbitrary” and a “huge inconvenience” to the public. Pandey will mention the matter for urgent listing on Thursday.
In his writ, petitioner has set out various practical difficulties faced by the public due to the sudden discontinuation of the notes.
He said, “Private hospitals are refusing to accept notes of denomination 500 and 1,000. Besides that, other grounds such as difficulties in travelling by public transport, the economic impact on farmers etc. are there.”
Calling it a ‘Tughlaki Farman’, Pandey has prayed that the order by the Central government be quashed.
Even in Mumbai, two senior advocates have moved the Bombay high court (HC) for the same reasons.
Advocate Jamshed Mistry and advocate Jabbar Singh moved the HC’s vacation bench arguing that the government’s move was rushed and had caused unprecedented inconvenience to the general public.
Justice MS Karnik, who was presiding over the vacation bench, has now directed the lawyers to plead their case before a regular bench of the court as “there were several questions of law involved”.
Mistry and Singh also cited a November 2 notification of the Reserve Bank of India that was sent out to all nationalised banks. In the notification, the RBI had said that as part of a ‘pilot project’, all banks must ensure that “within the next 15 days”, at least 10 per cent of their authorised ATM machines should dispense currency notes of Rs. 100 denomination.
