'Difficulties caused by demonetisation not...': Modi govt to Supreme Court on 2016 Note Ban

The Narendra Modi government defended its 2016 demonetisation decision in the Supreme Court on 5 December.

The government reportedly said that difficulties caused to the people cannot be the basis for questioning the decision to ban ₹500 and ₹1000 notes.

The Centre also said that the Supreme Court cannot question the validity of 30 December 2016 as the cutoff date to exchange old notes as exclusion of those left out was not deliberate or discriminatory.

Also watch: Six years of demonetisation in India: cash with public has nearly doubled

"They (petitioners) have said we should have conducted studies before demonetisation. For more than a decade, central government and the Reserve Bank of India have been looking at the three problems (fake currency, terror financing, black money)... They are like Jarasandha. You have to cut it into pieces. If you don't cut it into pieces, it will always be alive," Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, said.

The Supreme Court is hearing petitions which have challenged the validity of the demonetisation decision. The Centre recently told the top court in an affidavit that the demonetisation exercise was a "well-considered" decision and part of a larger strategy to combat the menace of fake money, terror financing, black money and tax evasion.

(With PTI inputs)