Supreme Court refers pleas to deposit demonetised notes to constitution bench
The Centre on Friday assured the Supreme Court that no action will be taken against petitioners who are still in possession of demonetised currency notes until the apex court rules on the constitutional validity of the move. The Centre’s remarks came as the top court disposed off 14 individual petitions seeking to deposit banned notes. The court said the matter will now be heard by a five-judge Constitution bench.
The Constitution bench was set up last December to examine the validity of the Centre’s demonetisation move. The petitioners, who had not been able to deposit their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in the stipulated time frame provided by the Reserve Bank of India, had sought permission to deposit them now.
The SC bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, asked the petitioners to file interlocutory applications in the pending petitions, which will be taken up by the constitution bench, reported news agency PTI.
Following the number of complaints after the Centre’s decision on November 8 to ban high-currency notes, the SC held there was need for “authoritative pronouncement by five judges”