Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday hailed the Supreme Court verdict that upheld the legality of the government’s 2016 demonetisation move.
“Welcome the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgement today on Demonetization. A five-judge Constitution Bench (via a 4-1 majority) has upheld the Demonetization after carefully examining the issue & has dismissed several petitions challenging the decision,” Sitharaman tweeted.
In a series tweets, the minister quoted extensively from the apex court’s judgement. “There were consultations between the Centre & RBI for a period of 6 months. There is a reasonable nexus to bring such a measure & it satisfies the test of proportionality. Decision-making process cannot be faulted merely because the proposal emanated from the Centre,” she tweeted, quoting from the verdict.
“Even the dissenting judge has said that: ‘Demonetization was a well-intentioned and well-thought-of decision to target evils plaguing the nation’s economy, such as black money, terror funding and counterfeit currency’,” the minister tweeted.
She also highlighted the Supreme Court’s observation: “The central government’s decision was after RBI board’s approval which shows in-built safeguard against centre’s powers. It cannot be said that there is excessive delegation of power under the RBI Act to the Centre which is answerable to the Parliament“.
The minister also quoted the apex court’s view that the Section 26(2) of the RBI Act cannot be struck down as unconstitutional on the ground of excessive delegation. “There has to be great restraint in matters of economic policy. The court cannot supplant the wisdom of executive with its wisdom,” the court said.
Upholding the legality of the move to ban Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, the Supreme Court on Monday said the decision-making process was neither flawed nor hasty and that it is “not relevant” if the stated objectives of the move were achieved or not.