A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Abdul Nazeer will hear the pleas on Wednesday. The bench is likely to fix the date of a detailed hearing.
New Delhi: On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of demonetisation six years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in the country.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Abdul Nazeer will hear the pleas on Wednesday. The bench is likely to fix the date of a detailed hearing. Notably, the matter was referred to the Constitution bench on December 16, 2016, however, the bench was yet to be formed.
On November 8, 2016, the Prime Minister, in a sudden move, had announced that the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes could no longer be used for any transactions. While people scampered to ATMs and banks and stood in long queues to draw the new notes, later on, the government struggled to list out the benefits of demonetisation.
The Opposition parties had widely criticised the move but they were attacked through a narrative that they are finding it difficult to hide their black money and thus they are slamming the extraordinary move taken by the Modi-led government.
For days together people kept beelining outside banks to get their notes exchanged with the new ones. Sometimes, people waited for hours only to be told that the bank branch or an ATM has run out of cash.
According to the Prime Minister, the demonetisation was a “mahayagna” against corruption, black money and counterfeit notes. He had said every honest citizen is getting a chance to join the purification process and asked them to pay a price by standing in queues for it.
