The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the notifications enabling the exchange of Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes without any requisition slip and ID proof, saying it has been done to avoid inconvenience to citizens, and the court cannot sit as an appellate authority on a policy decision.
The high court maintained it cannot be said that the government’s decision is perverse or arbitrary or it encourages black money, money laundering, profiteering or abets corruption.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said this is purely a policy decision of the government and courts should not sit as an appellate authority over the decision taken by the government.
The high court said the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is devoid of merits and dismissed the petition filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay who challenged the notifications by the RBI and SBI enabling the exchange of Rs 2,000 banknotes without requisition slip and identity proof.
The petitioner had claimed a large amount of currency notes had reached either an individual’s locker or had been hoarded by separatists, terrorists, Maoists, drug smugglers, mining mafias and corrupt people.
The plea asserted the notifications were arbitrary, irrational and offended Article 14 of the Constitution (equality before the law).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) defended before the high court its notification, saying it is not demonetisation but a statutory exercise.