A bench of Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Thakur has asked the government , “why did you start demonetisation? Even if you did , then why did you not dispense enough cash to solve this problem?”
He has warned that “there may be riots because of this’ in the Supreme Court today on Friday and has refused to stay cases against demonetisation in the High Courts and the Lower Courts across the country , he stated that “how can we slam the doors on people’s face when the problem is so huge?”
He has also mentioned that “people have become frantic in search of money” , and “showing monumental bravery to stand in long queues for hours together”. He also said that numerous cases have been filed against this initiative which signals that the problem has gone beyond control and is “serious and of huge magnitude”.
“People are coming to us , to courts to seek relief , we just cannot shut our doors on the civilians” said Chief Justice T. S. Thakur who refused the government.
The bench also comprised of Justice Anil R. Dave who also voiced his apprehensions against this move , where as the Government or the Centre Representative was Attorney General Mr. Rohatgi , who said ‘there is no such tense situation prevailing in the market”.
And also added that “People are patiently standing in lines , right now there is no such kind of suffering.” On this , Chief Justice Thakur immediately responded saying “No! There is suffering , this is the time our people are going through uninvited difficulty and trouble and you cannot dispute it.”
On this Mr.Rohatgi said , “ We don’t have sufficient supply of Rs 100 notes. Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes were about 80 per cent of currency in circulation before November 8.” He also denied that the country is going through any “cash crunch” at this time.
The Chief Justice T. S. Thakur also asked “in this situation how come can you reduce the limit of exchange back to Rs 2000 ? We are gathered here to alleviate this problem with the best of its solution and you all are doing something different?”
On this , Mr. Rohatgi said “Cash will be made available on petrol stations using swiping card in association with SBI. We have provided Rs 2.5 lakhs for weddings and farmers will get Rs 50000 for their upcoming Rabi season.”
On this Mr. Sibal said “Only people with Mercedes will be able to swipe out their cash at the petrol pumps and not the farmers!” He continued saying , “800 Crore people in India earn less than Rs 10000 a month , is this a joke when a family walked almost 20 kms from Bastar to the ICICI bank branch to exchange their notes!”
On this Mr. Rohatgi directed the Court that Mr. Sibal is playing politics over him in the court
Mr. Rohatgi at this point directed the government’s attack on Mr. Sibal, accusing him of playing politics in court.
On this the bench asked both of the Attorney Generals to come up with valid proofs and facts to the court by November 25 , till then the court is adjourned!
