New Delhi: The Supreme Court, Friday, fixed on December 2 the hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 and the inconvenience faced by the common man due to it.
A bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice DY Chandrachud said, "We will examine both aspects (inconvenience and constitutional validity) of the matter. Come on Friday at 2 pm".
The bench, meanwhile, asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, to file an additional affidavit, if any, explaining the "schemes and steps" taken to ease the situation that has arisen due to demonetisation.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners who has challenged the Centre's November 8 decision on demonetisation, said, the court should start hearing the matter from Tuesday itself.
Rohatgi, however, opposed the contention and said let all the petitioners, who have approached various high courts on the issue, come to the apex court which would take a call on December 2, as to whether the Supreme Court or the Delhi High Court would hear them all.
Centre has recently moved the apex court seeking transfer of all the petitions pending in various high courts to either the Supreme Court or one of the high courts.
On Thursday, Centre had filed an affidavit in the apex court on demonetisation and had said, that the "bold move" would eradicate black money and slush funds operating since Independence which cast a "parallel economy" hitting the poor and the middle class.
In its affidavit, Centre had also said the decision, on which total secrecy was maintained, would now help in the proper implementation of the ambitious 'Jan Dhan Yojana' under which around 22 crore bank accounts for poor people have been opened.
Further, it has said that demonetisation is seen as a check on the real estate sector where prices get pushed up artificially, reducing the availability of affordable housing for the poor and the middle class.
Elaborating on several measures including the "thrust" given for increasing digital payments in the economy through credit and debit cards, Internet banking, mobile apps and e-wallets, the Centre has said their use has seen a jump of nearly 300 percent in the last 10 days.
In its affidavit, the Centre has also given various reasons for maintaining secrecy about the move which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just after 8 PM on November 8 and came into force from the midnight.
The affidavit was filed as the apex court, on November 15, had asked it to file a comprehensive affidavit detailing steps taken so far and other proposed measures to ameliorate the harassment and inconvenience caused to citizens due to demonetisation of the high-value currency notes.
Earlier, the apex court had refused the Centre's request to stay the proceedings pending before various high courts, saying people may get "immediate relief" from them.
It had sought response of all the petitioners, who have challenged the demonetisation move in different high courts, on a plea by the Centre seeking transfer of all these matters to either the apex court or one of the high courts.
The Attorney General had told the court, that the situation is "much better" and more than Rs six lakh crores have been deposited so far in the banks since the demonetisation move and there is a big surge in the digital use of money transaction.
