Will Not Go Into Merits Of Decision, Can Go Into Manner Decision Was Taken: SC On Demonetisation

The top court also asked the Central bank about the details regarding the quorum in the RBI’s Central Board meeting that recommended the demonetisation. 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it will not go into the merits of the decision taken by the government on demonetisation, but can “always go into the manner the decision was taken”, reported news agency PTI. The apex court was hearing a batch of 58 petitions that challenged the demonetisation exercise announced by the Centre on November 8, 2016.

Hearing the petitions, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer said legal compliance of an economic policy can be examined by a constitutional court.

"Court will not go into the merits of the decision taken by the government. But it can always go into the manner the decision was taken. But, just because it is an economic policy, does not mean court will fold its hands and sit back,” it said, reported the news agency. 

"With regard to merits of the decision, it is for the government to know, in its wisdom, what is best for the people. But what was taken on record, whether all procedures were followed we can look into," the bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian, and B V Nagarathna, said.

During the hearing, the Reserve Bank of India said that  "temporary hardships" were there and that they are also an integral part of the nation-building process but there was a mechanism by which problems that arose were solved.

The court made these statements after senior advocate Jaideep Gupta appearing for the RBI, defended the demonetisation exercise and said there was no procedural lapse in the decision making.

"Judicial review cannot be countenanced in economic policy measure unless found to be unconstitutional. Economically relevant factors in economic policy making are best left to experts," Gupta submitted.

The top court also asked the Central bank about the details regarding the quorum in the RBI’s Central Board meeting that recommended the demonetisation. 

The Union government had recently told the apex court that the demonetisation exercise was a “well-considered” decision and part of a larger strategy to combat the menace of fake money, terror financing, black money and tax evasion.