New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 7, directed the Union government and the central bank, Reserve Bank of India, to put on record relevant records relating to the government's 2016 decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination.

Reserving its verdict on a batch of pleas challenging the Union government's 2016 decision, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice S.A. Nazeer heard the submissions from Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani, RBI's counsel Jaideep Gupta and the petitioners lawyers including senior advocates P. Chidambaram and Shyam Divan.

"Heard. judgement reserved. Learned counsels of the Union of India and Reserve Bank of India are directed to produce the relevant records," the bench also comprising Justices B.R. Gavai, A.S. Bopanna, V. Ramasubramanian, and B.V. Nagarathna, said.

The AG submitted before the bench that he will submit relevant records in a sealed cover. The bench has set a deadline of December 10, according to LiveLaw.

The top court was hearing a batch of 58 petitions challenging the demonetisation exercise announced by the Union government on November 8, 2016.

In an earlier hearing the Supreme Court said that just because the move by the Union government was an economic decision, it is not going to “fold its hands and sit” and will examine the manner in which the decision was taken.

For RBI, senior advocate Gupta had said that “temporary hardships” are an “integral part of the nation-building process.”

For one of the petitioners, senior advocate Chidambaram told the court that the decision was a “deeply flawed” one.

Experts have called the Union government’s justification for it in the affidavit it submitted to the apex court inadequate and unsupported by concrete data.

(With PTI inputs)

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