The Supreme Court said on Monday that the central government's 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was not hasty and such measures are required to be taken with utmost confidentiality and speed.
The top court, which upheld the Centre's 2016 demonetisation decision by a 4:1 majority verdict, said confidentiality and secrecy in such matters are of paramount importance.
"The decision-making process is also sought to be attacked on the ground that the decision was taken in a hasty manner. We find that the ‘hasty' argument would be destructive of the very purpose of demonetisation."
"Such measures undisputedly are required to be taken with utmost confidentiality and speed. If the news of such a measure is leaked out, it is difficult to imagine how disastrous the consequences would be," the majority judgement of the bench, also comprising Justices BR Gavai, AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, said.
Justice BV Nagarathna, however, delivered a dissenting judgement.
Referring to earlier incidents of demonetisation, the apex court said when it was being done in the year 1978, R Janakiraman, who had drafted the ordinance, was not permitted to communicate with anyone including the RBI's central office in Bombay.
"It would thus show as to what great degree of confidentiality was maintained. In any case, the material placed on record would show that the RBI and the central government were in consultation with each other for at least a period of six months preceding the action. We, therefore, find that the impugned notification dated Nov. 8, 2016 does not suffer from any flaws in the decision-making process," the bench said.
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