The bench persisted and asked the Centre to revert by Wednesday whether it intends to rework a cash withdrawal limit to make it possible for banks to honour it and not ask citizens to downsize their demand citing insufficient cash. The court’s remarks came in the context of submissions that banks were rationing cash and not honouring the Rs 24,000 withdrawal limit.
The court also asked if the government would permit cooperative banks to receive deposits under stringent guidelines in response to pleas that this was essential to meet the needs of the farm sector. The SC further sought the Centre’s response whether it supported sending the petitions challenging demonetisation to a five-judge bench as demanded by former minister and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal.Rohatgi told a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, “We had initially expected Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes worth Rs 10-11 lakh crore to be deposited back in banks. It has exceeded our expectation. 80% of the scrapped notes have come back. We expect one or two more crores to trickle in by December 31.”
Rohatgi pushed back and articulated the Centre’s apprehension over the judiciary scrutinising fiscal policy and attempting to tweak it. “There is serious reservation about maintainability of these PILs filed by advocates and cooperative banks against demonetisation. Can the SC decide fiscal policy of a government? Can it dictate what should be done and what should not be? “The judiciary has stepped into the realm of fiscal policy. Can the court decide what should be the government’s fiscal policy? It is not permissible. Please think about this. The situation is getting better and it will normalise after December 31.
(Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
