New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused on Wednesday to stay all further proceedings pending in various high courts in the country on the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, in a set back to the Central government which facing immense political backlash over the move.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told a three-judge bench, consisting Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao, that the scheme was largely a success and that queues in banks had reduced. The A-G submitted that several petitions were pending in various high courts, and to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, these petitions should be transferred either to the apex court or to any one high court.
The CJI told the A-G, “We don’t want to stay it. There are various issues. Different inconveniences are highlighted in the various cases filed across the country, maybe some relief can be had by these people from the high courts.”
The CJI also asked the cash-starved co-operative banks to approach the respective high courts for relief.
“The situation is much better, and more than Rs 6 lakh crore has been deposited so far. There is a big surge in digital use of money transaction,” Mr Rohatgi told the court.
He said the real problem being faced was transferring the money from the RBI to its various branches and then to the banks.
He said the demonetisation move was aimed at removing the 70 years of slush money and that the government was monitoring the situation day-by-day and hour-by-hour. He told the bench that the government had set up a committee which would take stock of the ground situation.
