Supreme Court Order on Demonetisation Live: "Demonetisation initiated by central government was unlawful," says Justice B V Nagarathna while giving a dissenting judgment. Demonetisation Case Order Live Updates: Following the Supreme Court’s verdict on Monday upholding the demonetisation move by the Central government in 2016, the Bharatiya Janata Party launched a scathing attack on the Congress and its former president Rahul Gandhi. Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad asked if the Wayanad MP would apologise to the nation now for his ‘campaign against the demonetisation scheme’. Hitting back, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said the BJP government at the Centre cannot absolve itself of blame for the distress the people of the country suffered due to the decision to scrap high-value currency notes. A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court Monday upheld by a 4:1 majority the decision taken by the central government six years ago in 2016 to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations. The majority, comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer, B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian, held that the Centre’s notification dated November 8, 2016, was valid and satisfied the test of proportionality. Justice BV Nagarathna in her dissenting view held that though demonetisation was well-intentioned and well thought of, it has to be declared unlawful on legal grounds (and not on the basis of objects).

On December 28, 2022, The Indian Express had reported that both the central government and the RBI omitted from their respective affidavits submitted to the Supreme Court that the RBI’s recommendation for the noteban — a procedural requirement — came after the central bank critiqued many of the government’s justifications. While the government, in its affidavit, said that it was a “well-considered” decision and the consultation process with the RBI had begun in February 2016, the central bank, too, said that due process was followed and it was the one that recommended the demonetisation. "There were consultations between the Centre & RBI for a period of 6 months. There is a reasonable nexus to bring such a measure & it satisfies the test of proportionality. Decision-making process cannot be faulted merely because the proposal emanated from the Centre," she said, quoting the judgement. CPI General Secretary D Raja on Monday said citizens should give due consideration to the "dissent judgment" in the Supreme Court's verdict on demonetisation, as it has questioned certain basic issues over the policy decision. The Parliament was not given the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of the demonetisation policy when it was announced "surprisingly" and "suddenly" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi back in 2016, he said. "The majority upheld the demonetisation but a dissent has been recorded. The dissent judgment has questioned certain basic issues and our citizens need to give due consideration to the dissent judgment also. Why I am saying this? Parliament is supreme in our democracy," the former Rajya Sabha member said. "When the demonetisation policy was announced by Prime Minister, surprisingly, suddenly, midnight, Parliament was not consulted. Parliament was not given the opportunity to discuss its pros and cons," the Communist leader added. The government has not said anything in Parliament and it is not ready to place a White Paper explaining everything in Parliament, he said. Demonetisation has proved to be "horrific" for the common people, he added. (PTI) Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday accused the Congress of attempting to "twist" the issue of demonetisation and "misinform" people after opposition leaders played down the Supreme Court verdict upholding the government's 2016 decision. In a series of tweets, he also slammed P Chidambaram for projecting the dissenting verdict in the 4:1 majority decision as a "slap on the wrist" of the government. Rijiju asserted that "the Supreme Court never examines the impact of a decision like demonetisation. That question could never have been raised for consideration of the court as it is essentially for the executive." Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, president of AIMIM (All-India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday challenged the BJP to celebrate 'Demonetisation Day.' He slammed the Modi government over the reason cited for the demonetisation that was decided upon to primarily check flow of black money, among others. He claimed demonetisation affected the economy. According to Owaisi, the decision (on demonetisation) was wrong as it led to a decline in the growth of the GDP to 4 per cent in 2019-2020 from 8.3 per cent in 2016-17. "We want to tell the Prime Minister why don't you celebrate 'Demonetisation Day'. If demonetisation was a success and if they think it was a success we challenge the BJP why don't they celebrate 'Demonetisation Day'. The Prime Minister knows that women, daily wage workers, artisans, drivers, electricians, and masons were affected owing to demonetisation. Why doesn't the BJP celebrate 'Notebandi Divas'," the Hyderabad MP said. Quoting a report, Owaisi said 50 lakh people lost employment. (PTI) Circulation of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) in the country continues to pose a challenge even after the 2016 demonetisation, whose one of the key objectives was to eradicate counterfeiting of notes.  According to report of the National Crime Control Bureau (NCRB), FICN with the face value of Rs 245.33 crore has been seized by the law enforcement agencies across the country since 2016 -- the year the Centre demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. The highest amount of FICN with the face value of Rs 92.17 crore was seized in 2020 while the lowest with the face value of Rs 15.92 crore was seized in 2016. In 2021, FICN of Rs 20.39 crore face value was seized in the country, of Rs 34.79 crore in 2019, Rs 26.35 crore in 2018 and Rs 55.71 crore in 2017, the NCRB data showed. According to the RBI annual report, published in May 2022, the number of fake currency notes of 500 denomination detected by the banking system more than doubled to 79,669 pieces in 2021-22 fiscal over the previous year. (PTI).