Demonetisation decision was 'flawed', declare it unreasonable, P Chidambaram urges Supreme Court

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 24

Terming the Centre’s November 8, 2016, decision to demonetise currency notes of the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 as “deeply flawed”, senior lawyer P Chidambaram on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional even as the court said that “it’s over now”.

Goal not achieved

• P Chidambaram said objectives of demonetisation were to control fake currency, black money and terrorism
• However, none of these could be achieved, he claimed

“Time cannot be turned back, but an act can be declared to be unreasonable,” Chidambaram told a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice S Abdul Nazeer which was hearing issues raised in 58 petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to demonetise currency notes of denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. Representing some of the petitioners, Chidambaram said the three objectives of demonetisation were to control fake currency, black money and terrorism.

“None of these objectives could be achieved. The annual report of the RBI for 2016-2017 stated that only fake currency of a value of Rs 43 crore was detected in the nearly Rs 15.31 lakh crore worth of currency exchanged. Fake currency represented 0.0028 per cent of the total currency returned and exchanged. So, how is the objective achieved?” he said.

As the Bench said, “It’s over now”, Chidambaram said it could declare the decision unconstitutional by applying the doctrine of proportionality. He said the right to regulate the issue of bank notes was entirely with the RBI. “The Centre cannot on its own initiate any proposal relating to currency notes,” he said.

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