Government to Supreme Court: Stay High Court note cases

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it had filed a petition seeking transfer of all the petitions pending various high courts challenging the demonetisation of  Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and sought a direction to stay all further proceedings in these HCs.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and prayed for an early hearing of the matter. He said since the apex court is already examining the issues and passing orders, it will be better if the HCs are restrained from passing orders to prevent unnecessary confusion and chaos. The bench agreed to list the matter for hearing on Wednesday. Earlier on November 18, the SC had termed the problem “serious”.

On November 18, when the AG brought to the notice of the court about the number of petitions being filed across the country, the CJI observed “the very fact that the cases are a signal that the problem is serious and of a significant magnitude. They are going to the courts for relief. We can’t shut our doors to the people. We can only consider transferring the cases to one HC, viz Delhi HC. You file a proper petition for that.” The transfer petition was filed pursuant to this observation.

On November 15, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Central government’s decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes but sought an affidavit as to what urgent measures can be taken to put an end to the severe inconvenience caused to the people.

The Centre’s application said that writ petitions and suits had been filed in the high courts of Bomaby, Madras, Calcutta, Kerala, Karnataka, Hyderabad for AP and Telangana, and Gujarat, challenging the November-8 notification of demonetisation. The Centre had carried out the exercise of the cancellation of legal tender of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in public interest to curtail the circulation of fake currency notes, storage of unaccounted wealth and financing subversive activities such as drug trafficking and terrorism, causing damages to the economy and security of the country. Hence, it sought a stay on all further proceedings pending in various HCs.