| Fake currency, black money like Jarasandha, should be cut into pieces: Govt to SC on demonetisation challenge | | | agencies
NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Fake currency, terror financing and black money are three evils and are like 'Jarasandha' (an antagonist in Mahabharat) and should be cut into pieces, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday while opposing the pleas challenging the 2016 demonetisation exercise. Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, submitted before a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice S A Nazeer that the government is duty bound to address the three evils. "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," he said. Venkataramani said judicial review of an economic policy may be restricted to where the court may only determine if there is a rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved through the means. "Any other test would impinge on the freedom of legislature. Should the government keep aside all its considerations and only look at evils sought to be curtailed. The balance will be the real test," Venkataramani told the bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai, AS Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian, and BV Nagarathna.
|
|
