SC to hear government plea for transferring demonetisation cases Wednesday

New Delhi, Nov 21: The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday the Union government's plea for transferring the petitions before various high courts challenging the November 8 demonetisation move.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who mentioned the petition before a bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud for an early hearing, said that the central government sought the transfer of matters to the Supreme Court or to one high court.

There are eight to 10 matters challenging the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notescurrently before various High Courts including Rajasthan, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bombay and Gujarat.

The government also sought direction that all future petitions related to the demonetisation be filed in the same court to which the apex court would refer the existing petitions.

In the course of the hearing on November 18, the top court had said that the people were approaching the courts because they are facing serious problems.

"That only shows the magnitude of the problem. The problem is serious. You can't shut them from coming to courts. People are frantic to get money. People are affected. We may have riots in the streets. Let them go (to the courts)," it had said when Rohatgi had sought transfer of these cases to the Supreme Court. 

While not passing any order on the government's application seeking the transfer of all the cases scattered in various High Courts and the subordinate courts, the top court had asked it to file a proper petition seeking the transfer of these cases.

In the last hearing, the top court had indicated that it may transfer these cases to a particular High Court.