‘Too much chaos’, Supreme Court defers hearing

New Delhi: Observing that there was too much chaos in the number of petitions filed challenging and supporting demonetisation and seeking different relief, the Supreme Court on Friday deferred the hearing till Monday with a view to categorise petitions and streamline the hearing.

A Bench of Chief Justices T.S. Thakur and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the Centre to sit with senior lawyer Kapil Sibal and make a list of the cases and identify the issues so that there could be a systematic hearing. Even as the counsel appearing for district cooperative banks from Rajasthan and Maharashtra explained their plight following the demonetisation, the CJI told the Attorney General that their problems appear to be genuine. He said cooperative banks are a distinct category and we have to streamline the hearing and some clarity is required.

The CJI asked Mr Sibal to sit with the AG and find out as to how to go about with the hearing as “if every one starts speaking together nothing is possible”. The AG informed the court that every day, many new petitions are being filed. Every one is coming with their case. He said the SC alone has 17 cases and all over the country, there are 70 petitions now.

Besides, there are district cooperative bank matters from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The AG said it is an all-India issue and should be clubbed and heard together.

In the last hearing, the court agreed to examine the constitutional validity to the challenge and asked the Centre to explain the steps taken to ease the difficulties of the common man. Justifying its decision, the Centre said it has not violated citizens’ fundamental rights as alleged by the petitioners but only imposed reasonable restrictions to achieve the goal of eradicating black money and counterfeit currency.

On the introduction of Rs 2,000 notes, the government said this was done keeping in view the erosion of the purchase value of money due to the rising inflation. It said there is a clear distinction between regulation and deprivation, and in the present case, the public is not deprived from using the money or the value for the legal tender possessed by them. “They can still deposit the old currencies and use cheques, e-transfer, etc. In view of the changeover limited reasonable restrictions had been imposed on withdrawals from banks, it said, seeking dismissal of all the writ petitions.