SC refuses to consider individual cases for accepting demonetised notes

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to consider individual cases seeking acceptance of demonetised currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations. A bench comprising BR Gavai and Vikram Nath, however, allowed the individual petitioners to approach the government with a representation.

The top court directed the government to decide the representation and consider the individual grievances, if made, within a period of 12 weeks.

"After the judgement of the constitution bench, we do not find it will be permissible for us to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution in individual cases to accept demonetised currency notes," the bench said.

It also clarified that in the event any of the petitioners are not satisfied with the action by the Union of India, they would be at liberty to approach the high court concerned.

In a majority verdict, the top court had upheld the government's 2016 decision to demonetise the currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations.

A five-judge Constitution bench had said the Centre's decision-making process could not have been flawed as there was consultation between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Union government.

The court had said the notification dated November 8, 2016, which announced the decision to scrap the high-value currency notes, cannot be said to be unreasonable and struck down on the ground of decision-making process.