The Congress demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s apology on Monday for the hurried demonetization of the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in 2016, claiming that it destroyed Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises and the informal sector.
“The livelihoods of tens of thousands of families were lost…our economy suffered greatly,” said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh even as a Supreme Court constitution bench affirmed by a 4-1 majority the move.
Ramesh referred to the court’s verdict rejecting a batch of petitions challenging the demonetisation. He said it was only restricted to how it was executed and not its impact. “If anyone should be apologising, it should be the Prime Minister.”
Ramesh said the court’s verdict has nothing to say about whether the stated objectives of demonetisation were met or not. “None of these goals — reducing currency in circulation, moving to a cashless economy, curbing counterfeit currency, ending terrorism and unearthing black money — was achieved in significant measure.”
The majority ruling of the bench was read by Justice BR Gavai, who stated that the demonetization decision was free from any procedural or legal errors and was also not affected by the proportionality principle.
The opposing opinion, written by Justice BV Nagarathna, criticised the decision as being illegal. She claimed it was against the law and against protocol.
Justice Nagarathna said the demonetisation could have been carried out only through legislation and not through an executive decision.
P Chidambaram, a Congress leader, called the dissenting judgment a welcome slap on the government’s wrist.
He said other judges steered clear of the question of whether the objectives were achieved at all.