Plea in SC seeks quashing of demonetisation decision

PIL by a Delhi-based lawyer could be listed for hearing during the week.

A man sorts Rs. 1000 and Rs. 500 currency notes at a fuel pump in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking a judicial order quashing the government’s decision to “immediately discontinue” the circulation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes and give the poor a reasonable opportunity to organise their lives.

The writ petition filed by Supreme Court advocate Sangam Lal Pandey is likely to be mentioned for an early hearing.

The scrapping of the high-denomination currency was implemented from November 8-9 midnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government was constrained to take this measure to fight the black money menace.

Mr. Pandey’s petition terms the announcement a “Tughlaki Farman” — a term fashioned after the medieval Indian ruler Mohammed bin Tughlaq whose decisions to change the capital from Delhi and currency had boomeranged.

The petition sought to “quash this illegal and arbitrary announcement without giving any opportunity to the poor citizens of India.”

Alternative arrangements

It has asked the apex court to direct the government “to provide a stipulated time to citizens for making alternative arrangements for necessary activities, may it be medical, educational, weddings, farming, etc.”

Mr. Pandey, who is a party in person, claimed to have received information that several private hospitals have refused to take payment in cash. This may delay “serious operations,” he said.

He said thousands of weddings scheduled from November 9 to 11 might have to be cancelled.

“A large number of people are suffering,” the petition said.