SC Refers 14 Petitions Relating To ‘Demonetisation’ To Constitution Bench

Supreme Court of India on Friday has referred 14 petitions relating to ‘demonetisation’ for the consideration of the Constitution Bench.While some petitions challenged constitutional validity of ‘demonetisation’, others have sought more time to deposit the demonetized notesThe petitioners who filed the petitions seeking further time to deposit old notes had submitted that if the. While some petitions challenged constitutional validity of ‘demonetisation’, others have sought more time to deposit the demonetized notesThe petitioners who filed the petitions seeking further time to deposit old notes had submitted that if the court's decision is delayed the Centre may take criminal action.Then CJI Dipak Misra sought the opinion of Attorney General K K Venugopal who assured "no criminal action will be taken against the petitioner with regard to the amount mentioned in the petition" When some petitioners urged court to begin hearing on pleas seeking quashing of several "arbitrary" circulars and ordinances, Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked "how can we do that? 'The very object of demonetisation and elimination of black money will be defeated if a window is opened for a further period as the persons in possession of the specified bank notes would have had sufficient time and opportunity to carefully plan the reasons and excuses for not depositing the SBNs within the permitted period that is before December 30, 2016,' the Ministry of Finance said in its affidavit.The government said it has taken a 'conscious decision' that no necessity or any justifiable reason exists either in law or on facts to invoke its power under The Specified Bank Notes Act, 2017 to extend the period for exchanging the scrapped currency. 'In other words, what was permitted was exchange and or deposit of specified bank notes during a block period a period up to and including December 30, 2016 either in person or through authorised third person,' it said.The Centre said that the Ministry of Home Affairs had in July reported that as per intelligence agencies, there were reports of large scale misuse of the window for exchange of the old currency notes.