New Delhi: The Supreme Court in a 4:1 majority verdict on Monday upheld the government’s 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination notes and said the decision-making process was not flawed. Following is a timeline of events in the case:
November 8, 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation and announces the demonetisation of high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.
November 9, 2016: Plea filed in Supreme Court challenging decision.
December 16, 2016: The bench headed by then chief justice T S Thakur refers questions of the validity of the decision and other questions to a larger bench of five judges for authoritative pronouncement.
August 11, 2017: Unusual deposits of Rs 1.7 lakh crore during demonetisation, says RBI paper. In nominal terms, excess deposits accrued to the banking system due to demonetisation are estimated in the range of Rs 2.8-4.3 lakh crore, it says.
July 23, 2017: Massive searches, seizures and surveys by the Income Tax department over the last three years lead to the detection of around Rs 71,941 crore worth “undisclosed income”, Centre tells SC.
August 25, 2017: RBI issues new Rs 50 and Rs 200 denomination banknotes.
September 28, 2022: SC constitutes constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer, says it will consider if pleas challenging demonetisation are an academic exercise.
December 7, 2022: SC reserves verdict on pleas challenging demonetisation and directs Centre and RBI to put on record relevant records for its perusal.
January 2, 2023: SC in a 4:1 majority verdict upholds the decision to demonetise the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination notes. Says the decision-making process was not flawed, has to be great restraint in matters of economic policy and the court cannot supplant the wisdom of the executive by a judicial review of its decision.
January 2, 2023: Justice B V Nagarathna renders a dissenting view, saying scrapping of the whole series of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes had to be done through legislation and not through a gazette notification.
